Machine-implemented activity management system using asynchronously shared activity data objects and journal data items

ABSTRACT

Machine-assisted methods and apparatus are disclosed for allowing individual users to develop and organize respective activity descriptions and supporting journal items according to their respective preferences. Cross-referencing mappings may be created between activity descriptions and journal items in order to find, filter and organize disparate data. Cross-referencing mappings may also be created between the developed activity descriptions of different users so they can better understand each others perspectives and possibly overlapping goals. Different users&#39; activity descriptions can be presented to a user even while the user may be disconnected from communication networks. Hierarchical relationships between activity descriptions may be provided. Machine-assisted means may be provided for creating work-sharing, work-delegating and/or informational sharing agreements between different users. Further machine-implemented means may be provided for automatically and asynchronously updating users on shared activities by other users even though all users are not necessarily connected to one or more respective communication networks at same time.

CROSS REFERENCE TO PATENTS

The disclosures of the following U.S. patents are incorporated herein byreference:

(A) U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,275 issued Jan. 29, 2002 to Charles Wong andentitled “Integrated business-to-business web commerce and businessautomation system”

In order to avoid front end clutter, this cross referencing section (2)continues as (2a) at the end of the disclosure, slightly prior torecitation of the patent claims.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure of invention relates generally tocomputer-assisted development and tracking of activities and/or activityspecifications such as may be used by individuals and/or corporatemanagement when keeping track of projects, activity allocations andactivity completions.

The disclosure relates more specifically to an activities development,cataloging and/or organizing system which may be used in stand-alonecomputers by individual developers as well as being used innetwork-interconnected machines by activity developers who are sharingideas and/or work product. The disclosure focuses on systems that may beused by people who have different points of view, different needs,different goals, different actualization options and/or differentunderstandings and where the users may nonetheless agree to cooperate inrespective subsets of shared work product, or shared thought product.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Countless types of manual and automated tools already exist for helpingbusiness managers and/or individuals to organize their own activitiesand/or the activities of others.

An example of a simple, manual tool is the paper calendar book. Room isprovided in it for making daily journal entries so a user can recordwhat the user plans to do on a given future day, or what he/she has donerecently. Examples of more complex tools include charting softwareprograms that assist corporate managers in filling out detailed “to-do”lists and in keeping track of their own progress or that of others inaccomplishing goals. The automated tools can be in some ways superior tothe manual ones because most automated tools provide ways to dynamicallyadjust information, quickly sort items in some basic manner according tosome priority or other sort criteria, and/or efficiently copy overelectronic data items from previous days of activity for use in acurrent period of activity.

Beyond the automated “to-do” lists there are yet more elaborate softwaresystems that try to integrate the disparate operations of many differentdepartments in a large corporate organization. By way of example, U.S.Pat. No. 6,343,275 contains over 100 drawings for describing anelaborate system described as an “Integrated Business-to-Business WebCommerce and Business Automation System”. The author of the U.S. Pat.No. 6,343,275 patent acknowledges that in complex business transactions,different groups of people get involved and very often the right handdoes not know what the left hand is doing. This is due to failures incommunication between one corporate department and the next (betweendifferent “domains”). Although the Biblical, Tower of Babel story is anancient one, it is still something that plagues mankind, especially wheninternational cooperation is attempted.

Each person can think differently. Despite the plethora of availableactivity-organizing tools and corporate-intercommunication tools, thereis no set of automated tools that allow for easy collection of randomelectronic data items and association of those random electronic dataitems with structured activities so that the random electronic dataitems can be easily retrieved at a later time when it might be usefulfor further developing or implementing a structured activity. There isno set of automated tools that support teamwork yet easily adaptthemselves to the unique preferences of each individual user (e.g., tothe needs of a particular “sales” person as opposed to the needs of aparticular “engineering” or “accounting” department person or to theneeds of another, individual sales “person” as opposed to the needs ofthe first sales person). There is no set of automated tools that supporta comprehensive activity management capability yet easily adapt to theunique environments which an individual user may find him or herself inas that individual user moves about, for example from a location thathas full network access capabilities (e.g., a WiFi hot spot) and maximalcomputing power availability to a location that has limited or nonetwork access capabilities and/or which makes available only computingresources of comparably reduced processing capabilities (e.g., the useris limited to using a low-power handheld device as opposed to a fullpower, engineering workstation on a desktop). There is no set ofautomated tools that allow for easy entry, development, and sharing ofeveryday thought product among unique individual users and easy trackingof agreements and accomplishments.

INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY

Structures and methods may be provided in accordance with the presentdisclosure of invention for improving over the above-summarizedshortcomings of prior, automated tools for activities development,organizing and/or tracking.

(A) More specifically, in accordance with one aspect of the presentdisclosure, techniques are provided for allowing one or more of thefollowing machine-implemented processes to take place:

(A.1) The developing and exchanging of organized expressions of activityideas between users is made easier, where the developed and sharedexpressions can be organized relative to one another according to eachuser's preferences, and where each expression of activity ideas candescribe one or more ideas about a corresponding activity according toeach user's preferred way of describing that activity. In oneembodiment, a so-called Activity Data Object (ADO) is used in anautomated machine system to express ideas about a respective activity orsubactivity. Each Activity Data Object may identify the correspondingdeveloper/owner of the ADO, indicate an Active or other status for theunderlying activity, and/or its development, indicate a work sharingagreement if any was or is being established with other users, indicatea priority given to the described activity, and/or indicate otherstructured attributes that may be desired by a given user of the systemfor expressing ideas about the underlying activity and/or itsdevelopment and/or implementation.

(A.2) The collecting of unorganized or organized data items forsupporting development of organized activity descriptions is madeeasier. In one embodiment, a so-called Journal Data Item (JDI) is usedin an automated machine system to indicate ideas that are relativelyunstructured and which may or may not be used in support of one or moreADOs. Provisions are made in one embodiment for optionally linkingselected ones of the supporting journal data items to corresponding,Activity Data Objects (ADO's). The collected, unorganized and/ororganized journal data items may then be conveniently retrieved when acorresponding Activity Data Object is referenced for review orrefinement.

(A.3) Mappings are enabled between one user's organized descriptions ofa set of given activities and another user's possibly differentdescription and organization of corresponding activities.

(A.4) Sharing of thought-product with others on a For-Your-Informationbasis is enabled so that voluntary cross pollination can occur.

(B) For one embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure, eachorganizable Activity Data Object (ADO) includes one or more of: (b.1) areference to a primary parent Activity Data Object(parent1-ADO); (b.2)One or more references to corresponding, primary child Activity DataObjects (child1-ADO's), if any, of the given ADO; (b.3) a description ofa corresponding activity, which description can be according todescription preferences of the user who owns the given ADO; (b.4) anidentification or reference of some kind regarding the originating idea,or original idea expression, of the given ADO; (b.5) an indication of anActive, or other, status for the given activity or its development;(b.6) an indication of a work sharing agreement, if any, establishedbetween the object owner and other users; and (b.6) an indication of apriority given to the described activity by activity data object'sowner.

(C) For one embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure, eachJournal Data Item (JDI) may include one or more of: (c.1) an entry timeindicator that indicates when the journal entry was made; (c.2) anindication of a data type for the correspondingly entered, journal dataitem such as text or other; (c.3) a reference to the corresponding dataitem; (c.4) references to one or more associated, Activity Data Objects(ADO's), if any;

Other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent from the belowdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The below detailed description section makes reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an environment in which two uniqueindividuals (users) develop activity plans of their own and optionallyshare electronic data items about parts of their plans and/oraccomplishments with one another;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a set of layers through which datacan migrate as individual users develop and/or track plans on their ownor with the assistance of other users and/or of external resources;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a possible structuring of aplurality of machine storage components for use by two independent usersin accordance with the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing how each individual user mightrelate to his or her own individual world and interrelate to thepersonal domains and/or organizational domains of others;

FIG. 5 is a combined schematic and flow chart for illustrating howactivity ideas might be originated and how corresponding activity plansmay be creatively expressed, modified and/or shared;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser his/her (or someone else's) expressions of hierarchically organizedactivity nodes and/or associated journal data items, where theillustrated presentation of the journal is provided under an optional,selection-filtered mode;

FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser his/her (or someone else's) expressions of hierarchically organizedactivity nodes and/or associated journal data items, where theillustrated presentation of the journal is provided under an optional,unfiltered mode;

FIG. 6C is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser his/her (or someone else's) expressions of hierarchically organizedactivity nodes and/or associated journal data items in an optionalunfiltered mode, while also indicating linkages that have been madevisible by the machine between displayed parts of structured activitydata objects and displayed journal data items;

FIG. 6D is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser his/her (or someone else's) expressions of hierarchically organizedactivity nodes and/or associated journal data items in an optionalselection-filtered mode, while also indicating linkages that have beenmade visible by the machine between structured activity data objects andjournal data items in response to the selection-filtered mode;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a possible set of sharing states between 3users and how such sharing states might be summarized in a presentationof the corresponding, structured activity data objects;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another user interfacepresentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneouslypresents to a given user his/her (and someone else's) expressions ofhierarchically organized activity nodes in graphical tree presentationmode and/or associated journal data items in sticky-note mode, whilealso indicating that logical linkages have been made visible by themachine between certain ones of the structured activity data objects andcorresponding journal data items;

FIG. 9A is a schematic diagram showing a journal entry interface inaccordance with the disclosure and showing how items may be entered intothe journal (as journal data items) for purposes of chronologicaltracking and/or for easier manipulation or comprehension and/or foraggregation and/or for linking with extra-journal objects (e.g., withADO's);

FIG. 9B is a diagram showing a possible data structure for a JournalData Item (JDI) in accordance with the disclosure;

FIG. 9C is a diagram showing an alternative to the possible datastructure for a Journal Data Item (JDI) in FIG. 9B;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a possible physical data structure for ajournal that may include one or more Journal Data Items (JDI's) inaccordance with the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a possible schema of privacy settings foractivity data objects in relation to privacy settings for theirrespective parent and child activity data objects;

FIG. 12A is a diagram showing a possible data structure for an ActivityData Object (ADO) in accordance with the disclosure and further showinga simple interrelation between a primary parent Activity Data Object, acorresponding primary child activity data object, and possiblyassociated, journal data items;

FIG. 12B is a state diagram showing how Activity Data Objects, orbundles of ADO's (with or without attached JDI's), may be transmittedfor sharing with other users; and for further showing howacknowledgements and/or sharing agreements may be developed and how theother users can further develop or transform their own organizedactivity descriptions and share those;

FIG. 12C is a diagram showing an alternative to the possible datastructure for an Activity Data Object (ADO) in FIG. 12A;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram which introduces some differences andinterrelationships which may exist between Foyered ADO's and EmbeddedActivity Data Objects of a given user's machine area;

FIG. 14 shows how an activities exchange center can be structured toassist users with the exchanging of activity descriptions and/or journaldata items;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing how various embedded ADO's in agiven user's machine area (Max's) may be logically linked to a set ofcorporate or other foyered ADO's;

FIG. 16A is a diagram showing an email or other messaging container thatmay be used for transmitting one or more derived copies of activity dataobjects, and optionally derived copies of their associated journal dataitem(s), to other users;

FIG. 16B is a diagram showing how an activity data object and optionallyits associated journal data item(s) can be received into the foyeredregions of a recipient's machine area (Harry's) and how the recipientmay subsequently drag or otherwise integrate or embed a correspondingcopy into an embedded activity tree owned by that recipient;

FIG. 16C is a diagram showing how the state of FIG. 16B may be advancedwith the received and embedded activity object being altered by therecipient and expanded upon with addition of child ADO's in accordancewith the recipient's perspective of the world;

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an email or other message container thatmay be used for messaging a derived copy of an activity data object andoptionally a derived copy of it's a associated journal data item(s) toother users, where the activity information is provided as text and/orencrypted and/or compressed text in the body of the email or othermessage container;

FIG. 18A is a schematic showing how explicitly shared activities and/orassociated journal data items can be shared in a possible Worksharedand/or a possible FYI Shared mode, and how the different machine areasmay contain various representations thereof;

FIG. 18B is a schematic showing how explicitly shared activities and/orassociated journal data items can be shared in a possible Delegatedmode, and how the different machine areas may contain variousrepresentations thereof;

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining why it may be advantageous indifferent situations to transmit activity updates either in essentiallyreal time, or in chronologically-accumulated batches, and/or in batchedgroupings on a per recipient basis;

FIG. 20A is a flow chart diagram showing a machine-implemented processfor determining which other users should receive update information whenan explicitly shared activity data object (ADO) and/or a correspondingJDI has been modified by its owner;

FIG. 20B is a flow chart diagram showing a machine-implemented processfor determining which other users should receive update information whenan activity data object (ADO) with foyered parent ADO(s) and/or acorresponding JDI has been modified by its owner;

FIG. 21 is a flow chart diagram showing a machine-implemented processfor determining which local machine area ADOs and/or JDIs possiblyshould be modified when a new or updating ADO and optionally its relatedJDIs are received from another user's machine area;

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of View related items, that a user may be ableto select in order to cause his system to execute various instructions;

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a possible user interface for a user toindicate his preferred set and order of activity description attributes,and to thereby cause his system to present a tabular or spreadsheetpresentation of activity description expressions accordingly;

FIG. 24A is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser his owned expressions of activity descriptions and/or associatedjournal data items, where presentation options are provided forpresenting rows and/or columns of activity description expression valuesaccording to their or others' owned activity description expressions;

FIG. 24B is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser a different user's expressions of activity descriptions and/orassociated journal data items, where presentation options are providedfor presenting rows and/or columns of activity description expressionvalues according to their or others' owned activity descriptionexpressions;

FIG. 24C is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser a combination of his and other user's expressions of activitydescriptions and/or associated journal data items, where presentationoptions are provided for presenting rows and/or columns of activitydescription expression values according to their or others' ownedactivity description expressions;

FIG. 25A is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser, in a tabular or spreadsheet format, expressions of his ownedactivity descriptions as well as expressions of respectively relatedactivity descriptions owned by one or more other users;

FIG. 25B is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser, in a graphical or icon-based format, expressions of his ownedactivity descriptions as well as expressions of respectively relatedactivity descriptions owned by one or more other users;

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of File management, Search and Filtering, andother Tools related items, that a user may be able to select in order tocause his system to execute various instructions;

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of Editing and Sharing related items, that auser may be able to select in order to cause his system to executevarious instructions;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an activities-plan development and sharingenvironment 100 which may incorporate one or more aspects of the heredisclosed invention. For simplicity sake, just two individual users, 101and 102, are initially shown to be interacting with respective parts 105a–105 b of an Activities Coordinating & Management software system(ACMAN system) 105 that is provided in accordance with the presentdisclosure in respective machine areas of the users. In the illustratedexample, the first and second software parts 105 a–105 b are provided atleast partially within respective first and second computers 110 and 120although they could have been provided in different user's accessiblemachine areas of a same computer or another kind of data processingmachine.

A first of the illustrated users, 101 is shown utilizing desktopcomputer 110 as his respective machine area while the second user, 102is shown employing laptop computer 120 as part of his respective machinearea. (Each user's machine area can include one or both of local andremote storage resources as shall be later seen.) The first and secondsoftware parts 105 a–105 b may operate independently or they mayasynchronously communicate with one another as shall be further detailedbelow. There can be many more participants beyond 101–102 and many moreinter-connectable software parts beyond 105 a–105 b as will becomeapparent shortly. (See briefly, FIG. 4.)

An important aspect of the present disclosure is that of recognizingeach human being as being an individual person and not merely aubiquitous, interchangeable entity (not just as a generic “user”). Inorder to assist in this recognition, the present disclosure gives thefirst user, 101 an exemplary name: Max Manager. The second user 102 isalso given a name: Adam Assistant. These stereotype-propagatingdesignations (supervising “manager” and subordinate “assistant”) areused here merely to provide readers with a quick frame of reference. Themanager and assistant designations are just two of an innumerable set ofdesignations that may be given for describing possible human-to-humanrelationships among participating users of the disclosed ACMAN system105. Any other designation may be used to describe plural users such as101 and 102. The users could instead have been described as peers, or asrandom teammates participating in one or more group activities whereindifferent participants take on temporary leadership roles for thecorresponding group. The users could even be described as persons whohave no clearly defined, hierarchical relationship with one another.(E.g.: They could be strangers who just met on the Internet, who happento have intercommunicative software parts 105 a–105 b, and who agreed toexchange some expressed ideas by use of computer-usable data signalsthat are to be exchanged between software parts 105 a–105 b throughsignal transmissions made over the Internet communications orotherwise.) Incidentally, each of the so-called software parts 105 a–105b may be constituted by manufactured instructing signals and/ormanufactured data signals (e.g., code plus data) that is operativelycoupled to a corresponding instructable machine (e.g., computerhardware) for carrying out machine-implemented operations describedherein. Each user may have his/her own private machine area for storingthe user's data and/or machine code, or users may have overlappingaccess to parts or all of each others machine areas.

Let us focus first on Max 101 and on our growing appreciation that this“user” is actually an individual person who may have unique likes,dislikes and needs. Max may have a certain set of “activities” ongoingor developing within his life. (See briefly FIG. 4.) One example of anactivity developing in Max's life can be a new project that Max isworking on at his job. More broadly, an activity can be almost anymental or physical action or a combination of both. Breathing is anactivity. However the present disclosure will be focusing on voluntaryactivities (i.e., not breathing), and more particularly on activitieswhich self-justify themselves to Max as being worthy of his spendingsome time to think about them and to record them in his ACMAN system.Such activities may also self-justify themselves enough to plan them outwith some degree of specificity, and perhaps to physically act on suchworthwhile activities in some substantial way. (The categorizing ofother activities is itself an activity, and as will be seen in the belowdetails, a user may create an activity description where the name of theactivity (e.g., All_My_Work_Activities) inherently categorizes thesubtasks, or hierarchical children, of that parent activity.)

FIG. 1 indicates that Max's activities may be distributed along aspectrum having at one end, purely physical actions 101 a and having atan opposed other end, purely mental actions 101 b. In the context of thepresent disclosure, most of Max's activities will be a mix of bothphysical and mental actions, each having some element of precognitionand some element of physical actuation (e.g., clicking a keyboard key isphysical). Many of Max's pre-cognated activities (101 a–101 b) will be“based” on some sort of local, mental model or models 101 c which Maxmay have pre-established or may be continuing to develop in his ownmind. The models 101 c are unique to Max. Adam Assistant 102 can havehis own unique model(s) 102 c which are unique to Adam.

Max, incidentally, does not have to be a male person. She 101 could havebeen a female. The male identity was chosen merely as yet anotherstereotyping convenience. The same applies to the gender of Adam 102and/or other players 403–404 (FIG. 4) who will be later introduced.

It should be rapidly becoming apparent from the above that the presentdisclosure intends to view each player (101, 102, etc.) as a uniqueindividual and as a person who may elect to use the to-be-described,software system 105 (e.g., ACMAN) in a very uniquely personal way. Thepresent disclosure recognizes that each user 101/102 is entitled to havehis or her own unique set of local mental model(s) 101 c/102 c and ideasabout how the world is to be appreciated. One person may choose to seethings on an enterprise wide or global scale and to interrelate conceptson such a grand scale. For example, that first person may ask himself:“How does the recent action by my nation's Government affectinternational trade and how does it affect my local operations andfuture plans? How does it affect Major Organizational Objectives, alsoknown as Management By Objectives (MBOs) 103 of my organization?”Another person may prefer to think about certain items in a verycompartmentalized way. For example, that second person may ask himself:“How does recent local news about the ABC town project affect my job indepartment DEF of company XYZ?” Neither of the global and localapproaches is right or wrong, or more noble than the other. It could bethat the first person, i.e. Max, in his managerial role, has a broaderset of responsibilities and/or action options 101 o than the options 102o that are presently available to the second person, i.e. Adam in hisassistant's role.

Things could change rapidly however. Adam may shift into a position ofgreater responsibilities and/or wider action options. Max may switch hisfocus to new areas. The respective software parts 105 a–105 b of eachuser should be able to correspondingly grow and/or change to adapt tothe personal needs and/or desires of their corresponding users (101,102) over time. Each participant should be allowed to develop his/herown perspective about how matters should be organized, prioritized,described, and/or otherwise managed. Personal perspectives can grow,shrink, evolve and/or refocus into new areas over time as shall bedetailed below. Environment 100 may be constantly restructured toaccommodate the changing options 101 o–102 o available to the respectiveusers, the changing mental models 101 c–102 c of each user, and thehardware/software resources 110–120 available to each respective user101–102 as that user moves about.

The local, mental model(s) 101 c/102 c of each user may bepreferentially formulated under one or more different languages. Max101, for example, may prefer to read and think in American English (oralternatively in British English). Adam 102 may prefer to read and thinkin Japanese. In our example, Adam can read and speak in English, but heprefers to work in Japanese. Max does not understand Japanese too wellbut has a crude working knowledge of that language. If Max Manager(and/or the system 100) were to force Adam to work in English wheneverAdam uses an available computer, say laptop 120, Adam could do so. Butin doing so, Adam (102) may become frustrated, less efficient and/orless creative than he would have been had he instead been allowed to usehis language preference, Japanese. Similarly, if Max were forced toreview Adam's work product only in the Japanese language, Max'sefficiency and productivity may suffer. The here disclosed system 105allows each user to work in his/her language(s) of preference—providedthat is, that the locally used computer (110 or 120) supports that/thoselanguage(s). The here disclosed ACMAN system 105 also allows each userto maintain cross-referencing translations (see briefly 263 of FIG. 2)of a co-worker's work product if that work product is shared. Thus eachuser is empowered to work in the language environment he/she prefers andeach user can create cross-referencing translations of another worker'scontributions. As will be seen, a worker who maintains across-referencing translation can show that cross-translation to theoriginator of the work product so that each of sharing users can betterverify what the other user understands the work product to be. In otherwords, Max may allow Adam to look at Max's translations of Adam'sterminology so that Adam can provide feedback on how accurate thosetranslations appear to be. Max may then modify his translations inresponse to Adam's feedback. This helps to cure the Tower of Babelproblem.

In one embodiment, Adam may work in Japanese, and a software automatedtranslation of Adam's work product may be optionally presented to Max asshared work product. The original and automatic translated expressionsmay optionally be incorporated into a cross reference dictionary sharedby Max and Adam. If desired, Max can also view the work product inAdam's native language if his computer supports that language font. Inthis way, Adam can work in his own native language, yet Max can viewAdam's activity in Max's language with no manual effort required totranslate Adam's work.

Language is just one example of personal work-style preferences. Thereare many other factors that may affect user productivity, creativityand/or satisfaction. Max may be a verbally-oriented person who likes tosee everything in writing and/or who likes to hear about things inspoken form. On the other hand, Adam may be a visually-oriented personwho likes to work with complex graphics, such as flowcharts, schematics,and graphs. The here disclosed, ACMAN System 105 allows each user101/102 to work with the various languages of choice and/or other formsof expression that he/she personally prefers, including graphicexpression (visual), auditory expression (sound), kinesthetic expression(e.g., sign language, video, etc.), and so forth. There is of course oneproviso, namely, that the respective computer 110/120 being used by thegiven user supports the personally-preferred one or more modes ofexpression or imagery 101 d/102 d that the user likes.

New forms of expression are often developed by artisans in the computerarts and thereafter adopted by computer users. There is a broad spectrumof available choices currently and more expected to come in the future.Examples of expression types include the options of expressing ideas assimple text (e.g., .txt files), or as simple graphic bitmaps (e.g., .bmpfiles), or as combinations of these, or as mark-up language formulations(e.g., .html files or .xml files), or as color animations with soundand/or other sensory inputs (e.g., haptics), and so forth. The presentdisclosure contemplates a system environment 100 that can grow toaccommodate new types of computer-supported expression as such develop.By way of a concrete example, it has been proposed that computers couldbe used to transfer impressions of touch, smell and/or taste over anetwork. If Max and Adam were in the food business and they wanted toshare certain understandings about a new food products menu they wereco-developing, and they where sharing their work ideas via thetransmission of computer-usable signals, then the software of system 100may be expanded to accommodate the handling of expressive signals forsuch sensory concepts. Incidentally, in the examples given here, it willturn out that Max and Adam are indeed in the food business. They bothwork for a fictitious company called IFWC (International FoodWholesalers Corp.). See briefly item 430 of FIG. 4.

Referring still to FIG. 1, there can be much more to personalpreferences than merely the choice of language(s) and/or of format(s) ofexpression. Differences can exist between how each person chooses toorganize and describe various items, or objects, or objectives, or ideaswithin his/her personal mental model 101 c/102 c of things. Max (101)may have formal training in financial matters and may prefer tostructure his thoughts under a finance-world model, say for example, byordering items into a balance sheet format which has assets, liabilitiesand equities as its major sections. Adam (102), on the other hand, mayhave formal training in the sciences and may prefer to structure histhoughts under a scientist's-world model, say for example, by orderingwork projects as belonging either to a food-chemistry category or to afood-packaging category. When Max and Adam start exchanging ideas withone another, it is easy to see how a Tower of Babel problem can easilyarise. (Each participant 101/102 may fail to clearly and fullyunderstand how the other is structuring his thoughts.) The heredisclosed Activities Coordinating & MANagement software system (ACMANsystem) 105 can include mechanisms for helping each user to betterunderstand the other in this regard.

The forms of imagery, expression, model structuring, etc. (101 c/101 d,102 c/102 d) which each user may prefer to work with can depend on acomplex set of variables beyond language and educational background. Theindividuality-establishing variables (101 e) can include the person'scultural background. People from different cultures may have differentapproaches to how they think about things. The ACMAN software package105 respects such diversity. A person's personal experiences may affectthe local mental models 101 c/102 c which they bring with them to thearena when those people first start to interact. The combination of pastpersonal experiences, original mental models 101 c/102 c andnewly-experienced interactions (115 b, 128 b) may determine how eachperson's model(s) 101 c/102 c evolves going forward into the future. Thedisclosed ACMAN System 105 can include mechanisms for helping each userto learn from others and develop more sophisticated understandings ofmatters and to incorporate representations of such more sophisticatedunderstandings into their local, computer-held models (e.g., into treestructure 115 of FIG. 1). The disclosed ACMAN system 105 allows eachuser to determine his/her level of preferred resolution. Max may like tohave very detailed expressions of all his ideas (see spreadsheet 116)while Adam prefers less detail. (Compare for example, Adam's spreadsheetat 126 versus Max's at 116.) A single, well chosen word or phrase issufficient for Adam. The system 105 respects each user's preferences.The system allows for the inclusion of detailed, background or supportdata in an unstructured, but possibly chronologically-sortable journal(see briefly 820 of FIG. 8 and 620′ of FIG. 6B) to be associated (871)with any structured Activity Data Object(s) (871 b and 872 b). (NoteMax's journaling of his Research Efforts in box 117). The system at thesame time allows for use of short activity descriptors (see briefly 1234of FIG. 12A) so that tree representations of several hierarchicallyrelated Activity Data Objects can be graphically represented (seebriefly 810 of FIG. 8).

More to the point, FIG. 1 shows Max 101 viewing (111 a) an on screenpresentation 111 provided by his desktop computer 110. The desktopcomputer 110 may be configured in accordance with the present disclosureto present, among other things, a structured graphical presentation 115of projects, tasks or other activities which Max may be working on andhow they interrelate to one another on a hierarchical and/or otherbasis. The display 111 may alternatively or additionally present localtextual representations 116–117 of matters which Max 101 is working on.For example, one local text representation may be structured as aspreadsheet 116. Another local textual representation may be items in anunstructured journal 117 that belongs to Max. The illustrated example at117 indicates that among the unstructured entries made into the Max'sjournal there can be random and detailed personal notes, details aboutresearch efforts, pointers to specific email messages in Max's emailapplication, data copied from the Internet or hyperlinks to internetlocations, or any electronic data items in any data format, notnecessarily limited to text, that a user might wish to include in hisunstructured daily journal. The journal might be thought of as theelectronic equivalent of a notebook or daytimer booklet that many peoplecarry around with them and use on a daily basis. The relativelyunstructured nature of the journal data items (117, 127) invites usebecause the user is not forced to engage in any data-organizing actionsat the time the entry is made. The user can type, electronicallyscribble, copy and paste, or simply drag and drop the electronic dataitem into the journal area (see briefly 901 of FIG. 9A) and forget aboutit. The user can freely insert unrelated notes without concern for howthey may become useful or how they may relate to one another. Thedetermination as to which may be useful and which relate to what one ormore ADOs can occur much later, on an as needed basis. Perhaps the user(Max or Adam) does not have time to do more at the moment than savemiscellaneous pieces of found electronic data items into his journal onan as-found basis. Later, the user may revisit the one or more recordedjournal data items and develop it/them some more. The user may use oneor more journal data items as a foundational basis on which to createnew activity data objects or modify existing activity data objects(represented by the darkened circles in 115). The user may use one ormore journal data items as supporting information for implementing oneor more of his planned activities. FIG. 6A–FIG. 6D, FIG. 24A, FIG. 8,FIG. 9A, and others embellish this concept of the unstructured journalversus the structured ADOs in more detail and will be covered later inthis disclosure.

Max's desktop computer 110 is shown to have a full-size keyboard 114which allows him to easily make text entries into his journal 117. Thecomputer may further include a mouse 113 and/or other graphical userinput devices which allow Max to easily select certain areas (e.g. 115a) of his local presentation and/or to make changes to graphical objects115 displayed on that presentation 111. Max may use the mouse (113), thekeyboard (114) and/or a microphone and/or other user interface devices(not shown) for inputting electronic data items and/or activitydescriptions of various formats and/or data types, as well as forscrolling (e.g., by using bar 116 a) and/or otherwise navigating throughdata that can be shown on the screen 111. The possible user interfacedevices can include other devices not yet in wide use or even inventedyet-for instance there are devices that allow a user to write on a paperpad and then automatically translate those physical scribblings intoelectronic data items on a data processing machine, and such a device,or others, might be incorporated into use as an input device to theACMAN system. Max may use his user interface devices for activatingon-screen drop-down menus and/or other such tools (not shown). Max's,managerial-level computer 110 is understood to have relatively maximalcomputer processing power and maximal connection availability to theInternet (115 c) and/or to various extranets and/or to various corporateservers (130). As such, when Max is at his desktop computer 110, Max hasrelatively fast access to a wide range of computing and data resources.(It is understood that any one or more of the networks may becometemporarily inoperable or that MAX may elect to temporarily decouple hismachine area from one or more of the networks.)

The total and persistent network access condition is not always true.Max 101 is not always in his office and/or nearby his desktop computer110. Sometimes Max is traveling on the road with a laptop computer or ahandheld computing or another mobile device. At those times Max may notalways have full access to the Internet 115 c and/or to other dataresources (130) which Max may be accustomed to. Sometimes, Max may onlyhave an audio tape recorder at his disposal, or a paper napkin on arestaurant table. That does not mean that Max has to then stop thinking(101 c) of new ideas. That does not mean Max needs to stop recording histhoughts in some fashion so that Max can thereafter gainfully use hisrecorded expressions. A system is needed wherein Max can easily transferhis on-napkin scribblings or other expressed ideas into computer system110 and thereafter make gainful use of those recorded expressions. Asystem is needed wherein Max can manage his short-term and long-termdevelopment goals 101 g. A machine system is needed which accommodatesMax's busy time schedule 101 t and serves him rather than taking awayfrom his time and making him a slave to the machine system. (It isunwise to have a system where response time 101 r to user actuations isslow because every transaction with the local machine 110 includes await for a network transaction e.g., 131 to complete.) A machine systemis needed which custom fits Max's uniqueness. At the same instance, asystem is needed which custom fits Adam's unique time schedule 102 t andAdam's modeling preferences 102 d–102 e.

More to the point, because each of Max and Adam is a unique individual,there may be correspondingly unique ways in which Max/Adam prefers toexpress his respective ideas and present them back to himself (111 a/121a) so he can develop them further or pass on some of his self-expressedideas to others for those others to work on. Due to his personalbackground (101 e), Max may prefer to work with a graphical and detailedhierarchical tree structure such as is schematically represented at 115.Adam may prefer a pie-chart 125. Additionally or alternatively, Max mayprefer to work with a complex spreadsheet such as is schematicallyrepresented at 116. Adam may prefer a simpler table format 126.Additionally or alternatively, Max may prefer to have some of hisexpressed and evolving ideas (e.g., Research Efforts) strewn randomly,chronologically or in some other organized and searchable fashion withina free-form personal journal 117. Adam may have a similar journal 127that is organized on a different, free form basis.

The local presentations 111 on computer 110 may suit Max perfectly well.Consider however what happens when Max Manager wishes to transmit atleast a small part 115 a of his expressed ideas (his recordedthought-product) to Adam Assistant (102) so that Adam may understand itand/or further work on the underlying ideas. In one embodiment, thetransmission comes in the form of one or more asynchronously shareableignal packets referred to herein as Activity Data Object(s) (ADO(s)) 115b. Max may choose to include just one or a group of several suchActivity Data Objects to transmit to Adam (or more correctly to amachine storage area that is accessible by Adam). How is Adam to managewith Max's preferred way(s) of expressing activity ideas by way ofexpression form 115 a? Adam is a unique individual who may have his ownways of modeling (102 c) the world. Adam may have a completely differenteducational background (102 e) and different personal preferences anduse of languages and imagery (102 d). Adam may prefer to (or may beforced to) use a laptop computer 120 with less computing power and/orless access to corporate internal resources (130) and/or public externalresources than those available on Max's computer 110.

Adam may have his own unique preferences for how various ideas aboutactivities or other things are presented (121 a) from his computer 120to himself. For example, Adam may prefer to use pie-chart presentationssuch as shown at 125 (or quickly viewable bar graphs) rather than thecomplex hierarchical tree structures shown on Max's computer at 115.Perhaps this is so because in Adam's work domain the same type ofactivities are performed repetitively over and over again at a fast paceand in the sequence expressed by the pie chart. Adam may be mostlyinterested in knowing what percent of time and/or other resources is/areexpended in performing each of those consistently repeated tasks. Insuch a case, it makes perfect sense for Adam 102 to view those tasks asbelonging to a circular pie-chart-like model (125) or bar graph ratherthan as being part of a more complicated and ever-growing tree format(115). Adam may have a less complex spreadsheet 126 for representing tohimself the projects he is working on. The columns and rows of Adam'sspreadsheet 126 may have several different labels than those of the morecomplex spreadsheet 116 used by Max. Adam may also have different waysof expressing things in his local journal 127. Adam's vocabulary may bequite different than Max's.

Adam may also have his own unique preferences for how various ideasabout work activities or other things are organized or described.Briefly, as shown in FIG. 15, Max may have created anactivity-describing expression “Hire Veggie Product Manager” 1524 andmay have hierarchically positioned that expression (e.g., as an ADO)within Max's own organized set of other activities, as shown in area1520. Because of his view of the world, Max may have established his ownhierarchy of activities within which this new “Hire Veggie ProductManager” activity fits. He might decide to asynchronously share thisactivity idea with Harry H. Resources (briefly, see FIG. 16A), who is inthe Human Resources department. “Harry HR” as we'll call him, is usingan ACMAN system, and the system might automatically record a possiblyderived copy 1616′ (briefly, see FIG. 16B) of Max's transmitted activityexpression into a so-called, foyer region 1651 of his, Harry's machinesystem. Harry can further elect to participate in the underlyingactivity by dragging yet a further possibly derived copy (1635) of Max'sexpression into a so-called, embedded activities region (1650) ofHarry's machine area. The embedded copy (1635) may be deemed as being“owned” by Harry. Because he owns it, Harry can position that copiedactivity expression as he pleases into his own set of organized,activity descriptions (e.g., 1639, 1636, etc.), where Harry's activitydescriptions may be organized quite differently from the way Maxorganizes his, Max's activities (see again, area 1520 of FIG. 15).Furthermore, Harry HR may choose to change the way in which thedescription (Harry's description 1635) of this underlying activity isexpressed. Harry can change some of the words or even the whole languageof this activity description (briefly, see the revised description 1635′of FIG. 16C) so that the embedded and modified activity descriptionbetter fits his (Harry's) understanding of what his participation in theactivity means to himself and/or how it may interrelate to otheractivities Harry is involved with. Harry may choose to expand hisdefinition of the activity by breaking down the activity description toinclude a top-down flow into one or more child activities (e.g., 1640,1641, and 1642 of FIG. 16C) where the child activities better describe,or describe in more detail, to Harry what he plans to do as part of hisparticipation in the activity. In one embodiment, Harry's system retainsa copy (1651′) of Max's ADO's and their organization as originallyreceived into Harry's machine area. Harry's machine (e.g., localcomputer) allows Harry HR to see how the activity idea was organizedfrom Max's viewpoint. In the same embodiment, after Harry acceptsparticipation in the activity (by embedding a derived copy into his,Harry's tree), Harry's computer might automatically send an update backto Max's computer, showing how the embedded copy is situated in Harry'sactivities tree. Max may then be able to see how Harry HR incorporatedthe activity description into Harry's view of the world. FIG. 15 andFIG. 16A through FIG. 16C will be further detailed below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, one problem in the organizing of groupactivities is how to get fast, efficient and productive cooperationbetween Max and Adam, so that each better understands what the other isthinking while each is using a respective, and potentially-decoupledcomputer (110 or 120, and the use is not necessarily at the sametime—their work exchanges 115 b/128 b can be asynchronous). Simplyproviding a computer to each is not good enough. It is difficult enoughto even “force” a user to gainfully use his computer because of thetraining involved. It is more difficult to get a user to productivelyuse his/her computer if that computer does not provide presentations(111 a, 121 a) that are agreeable to that viewer (101, 102) and if thatcomputer does not provide information management tools that make iteasier rather than more frustrating for the given user (person) tomanipulate the provided information. The present disclosure shows how toovercome such problems.

There can be different ways in which users cooperate in the developmentand/or implementation of activity ideas. Suppose that Max 101 wishes todelegate a certain subset 115 a of his currently-developed plans 115 toAdam Assistant 102 for Adam to carry out and/or further develop. One ofthe many frustrations which Max Manager 101 may face in doing so is thelack of a real time communications link (115 c) being consistentlypresent between Max's computer 110 and Adam's computer 120. Even iftheir common business organization provides a central organizationalserver 130, this may be insufficient because Max may not always beoperatively connected to a network when he wants to plan his ownactivities and/or share various activities with Adam. It could be thatMax is traveling on the road at the time and Max's computer 120 is notconnected to a network. Alternatively, the network may be temporarilyinoperative (the network is “down”). Even further, it may be that Adamand Max do not work for the same organization and both do not havenetwork access to a central organizational server. Either way, Max maynot be able to easily access the central organizational server 130 everytime he has a brainstorm of ideas. This can be frustrating. Anotherpossible source of frustration is that Max and Adam may be working indifferent time zones, 101 t–102 t, or that Max and Adam are on differentwork schedules. Yet another possible source of frustration for bothcomputer users is that each may worry that the other does not fullyunderstand what was intended by a given communication. Max may have aformal education in business management while Adam has a formaleducation in computer engineering. They may use completely differentvocabularies to express their respective ideas. It would be useful tohave a system wherein Max 101 can verify that Adam 102 correctlyunderstood what was meant by a shared activity description 115 b andwherein Adam can verify that Max understood what was meant by a returnedprogress update report 128 b. It may be useful for Adam to know what setof other activities Max is additionally or alternatively exploring eventhough the shared activity description 115 b does not extend to thedomain of all of Max's additional activities (beyond 115 a). It may alsobe useful for Adam to know what context or scope the shared activitydescription(s) 115 a fits within so that he can better understand whatthe shared idea involves. In accordance with one aspect of thedisclosure, when activity descriptions are shared by way of transmittedActivity Data Objects (ADO's), the context, or hierarchy of so-called,primary parent ADO's (and optionally secondary parent ADOs, to bedescribed later) may be automatically passed along with each explicitlyshared ADO. This allows the recipient to see the context in which thesending user views the shared ADO. According to another aspect of thedisclosure, Max can send representations of selected work to Adam to beinformationally shared with Adam as For-Your-Information (FYI)transmissions, as opposed to activity descriptions that are activelyshared with an intention to request active involvement in the expressedactivity idea. Such active sharing can be further defined as Delegated(Dg) or WorkSharing (WS). Possible different types of sharingarrangements will be described in more detail later in this disclosure.The FYI option allows for informal and/or informational exchange ofactivity ideas information while the other options such as WS or Dgallow for more formal and/or active exchanges.

Referring to FIG. 2, a relatively broad overview of a system environment100′ in accordance with the present disclosure is shown and described.(Many of the concepts described for FIG. 2 will be further explicatedlater in this disclosure. The present disclosure is to be seen ascovering both the broader concepts and the detailed embodiments.) InFIG. 2, data can be seen as migrating through a series of layers, movingfrom storage towards presentation to respective users (101′, 102′) andmoving between storage areas that belong to different users whenthought-product sharing occurs. Presentation, incidentally, is notlimited to visual presentation of expressed ideas. Expressed ideas maybe presented to users in a variety of multimedia ways including bysound, touch and/or otherwise. Each user may deal with his/herindividually-tailored part of a user interface layer 240 according tothe user's personal likes when that user interfaces with his/her localcomputer (e.g., in FIG. 1, 110 for Max, 120 for Adam). This userinterface layer may include means for enhancing the user's experience interms of ease of use and speed of responsiveness (101 r′). More on thiswhen FIG. 9A is explained. Hidden behind the user interface layer 240(FIG. 2) may be a presentation filtering & updating layer 245 and alocal data storage layer 250. For each user, the local data layer 250can include one or both of Activity Data Objects (e.g. ADO's 251) andunstructured or structured journal data items (e.g., JDI's 252 a). Thelocal data layer 250 typically might also include a local storage media(e.g. 258, which might be a hard disk , an optical disk drive, aholographic storage media, a tape media, flash memory media, DRAM, SRAM,or any other electronic, magnetic, or other media storage device thatmight be conceived) which might store most of the given user'sstructured activity data objects (251) and possibly at least some ofhis/her not-necessarily-structured electronic data items (252 a) and/orother electronic data items related to his ACMAN system. Otherunstructured data items (252 b) may be stored remotely (e.g., on media298 which couples to the user's computer via one or more networks).

More specifically, Max Manager's (101′) structured activity data objectsare referred to here as Max's Activity Data Objects 251, and alternatelyas Max's ADOs. His locally-stored, not-necessarily-structured data itemsare referred to as Max's local Journal Data Items 252 a. The data ofelements 251 and 252 a may be stored in a same local storage media 258whose storage area may be directly accessible only to the owning user,Max 101′. (In other words, not directly and/or synchronously shared withothers via a network.) Therefore Max may elect to keep personal plans onthe media as well as work-related ones without worrying that his privacymight be easily compromised. Similarly, the structured activity dataobjects of Adam Assistant (102′) are referred to here as Adam's ActivityData Objects 253, or Adam's ADOs. His local not-necessarily-structureddata items are referred to as Adam's local Journal Data Items 254 a.These may be stored in a local storage area 259 which only AdamAssistant might have direct access to.

In one embodiment, each user's machine may have installed therein, oneor more automated background agents (e.g., Charlie's Agent 203″) thatbelong to other users, where the other users are listed on the machineowner's whitelist as being allowed to have such background agents. Thepermission-wise installed background agents might automatically crawlthrough the activity trees as permitted by the owners of the localtree(s) (e.g., Max's tree(s)) in the background mode and they mightperform a peek at activity data objects and associated journal dataitems in a way similar to how the agent's owner (e.g., Charlie Chief 403of FIG. 4) would be permitted to do it manually and in the foreground ifthe tree's owner (Max) knew that was going on. For example, the ACMANsystem may provide Max with a means to identify ADOs (and/or JDIs) withcertain privacy settings (to be discussed later in FIG. 11). Max mayallow Charlie's agent to look at only certain, “non-private” areas ofMax's full collection of activity data objects and/or journal dataitems. The background agent might automatically generate an updates list266 containing updated or new activity data objects and/or associatedjournal data items and identifying deleted ones, if thosechanged/deleted items are non-private with respect to the agent'smaster. The background agent (203″) may automatically post the updatelist 266 for emailing or otherwise asynchronously sending back to itsmaster's machine area (e.g., Charlie's machine area) the updateinformation.

In an alternative or further embodiment, Max's machine area may containa list identifying a set of supervising users to whom Max is expected toautomatically report. Max's machine may automatically send updates ofnon-private collections of activity data objects and/or journal dataitems to such supervising users. For each such supervising user, anupdate list of activity data objects and/or journal data items may bemaintained in Max's machine area. When Max causes his machine to modifya corresponding activity data object and/or journal data item, apossible update listing for the each corresponding supervisor may beappended with a pointer back to the activity data object and/or journaldata item that was just changed by Max. (This, of course, assumes thereis a permissive match of privacy level of the ADO and/or JDI versus theprivacy access level of the given supervising user.) At variousintervals, as may be determined by Max's machine, copies of the modifiedADO's and/or JDI's may be emailed or otherwise asynchronously sent tothe machine area of each supervising user who was listed for updating inMax's machine. When a supervisor's machine receives a set of updates,the supervisor's machine may automatically update the correspondingcopies (foyered copies) of the revised activity data objects (Max'srevised, added or deleted objects) where the corresponding copieslogically reside in the supervisor's machine (e.g., Charlie Chiefsmachine). The supervisor's machine may optionally present the updatedcopies in highlighted form so that the supervisor (Charlie Chief 403 ofFIG. 4) can visually spot what was changed when he next uses hismachine.

For each local user (e.g., Max, Adam, Charlie—last not shown in FIG. 2),a respective presentation filtering, updating and highlighting interface245 may be interposed between the local data layer 250 of thatrespective user and the presentation-providing interface layer 240 ofthat respective user. The presentation filtering & update interface 245may be used to select certain ones of the user's ADOs and JDIs forpresentation on that user's respective display and/or other presentationmeans 111′, 121′ in a format desired and specified by that user. Thus aparticularly selection-filtered version of some of Max's activity dataobjects 251, which Max has asked for, may pass through programmedpresentation filters (246) of layer 245 to be presented as activity dataobject presentations 115′ in Max Manager's viewing area 111′ in a formatthat Max likes. Similarly a subset of Max's local and/or remote journaldata items 252 a, 252 b, which Max has asked for, may pass throughfurther, programmed selection filters 247 of the presentation filteringlayer 245 to appear as journal data item (JDI) presentations 117′ inMax's presentation area 111′ in a format that Max likes. Examples offiltering options that Max may ask for from his computer may range fromsimple to complex, and as an example, might be described in pseudo-termsas, “Show me all my activity descriptions dealing with the category ofRefinancing of My House and also show me all my unstructured journaldata items that have been associated with the same. At the same timealso show me all my structured activity descriptions dealing with thecategory of Banks that have a due date before Aug. 5, 2003” (see brieflyFIG. 6A).

A set of presentation controlling tools and navigating tools may beincluded in area 241 of presentation area 111′ so that Max Manager 111′can control which structured activity presentations appear in area 115′(corresponding to selected ADO's of storage area 251) and which JDIpresentations appear in area 117′. In one embodiment most of Max'sactivity data objects 251 and most of Max's local journal data items 252a are stored in a local storage media 258 that is immediately accessibleto Max Manager 101′. This means that Max does not require an activeconnection to an operative network 291. Max Manager can work alone (280)and get quick response time from his part of the system when he isreferencing his activity data objects 251 and local JDIs 252 a. This isso because such referencing does not require an active connection 291 toa network 115 c′ or completion of a network-based transaction (such aswith exchange or message server 295). Max could be working alone (280)on a stand-alone laptop computer or handheld personal digital assistant.The quick response time and immediate availability helps to give MaxManager 101′ an impression of ease of use 101 r′ and persistentaccessibility.

In one embodiment, presentation filters 246–247 of layer 245 havebi-directional cross referencing capabilities. Max can use thesecapabilities to see all journal data items related to one or morepre-specified activity data objects and/or to see all activity dataobjects related to one or more pre-specified journal data items (and askfor them to be presented in various ways including chronological,alphabetic or other sorted fashion). Max should be able tosimultaneously or alternatively request presentations of items from theADO category (251) or the JDI category (252 a, 252 b) using otherfiltering and/or sorting specifications, such as asking for all ADO'swhose short descriptor (detailed below) includes the string, “finance”and all journal data items whose body content includes the phrase,“interest rate*”. The asterisk (*) might act as a wild card in thispossible example. Max's ability to perform cross-referenced filtering ofMax's activity data objects by association to Max's journal data items252 a (and/or Max's remote JDIs 252 b) and vice versa helps to give Maxan impression that his organized activity data objects are seamlesslytied to his journal data items and vice versa. Graphical, for exampledrawn hierarchical tree with icons, presentation (115 of FIG. 1 or 810of FIG. 8) or tabular, for instance spreadsheet, presentation (seebriefly 610 of FIG. 6A) may be used to help Max clearly see how certainones of his activity data objects may be logically associated to oneanother and/or to journal data items (JDI's). Various linking iconsand/or color codings (see briefly 927 of FIG. 9A) can be used by thepresentation layer 245 to help Max perceive his JDIs (252 a, 252 b) asbeing logically associated to one another and/or to his ADOs 251 (seebriefly 631 of FIG. 6D). These filter-enhanced perceptions allow Max101′ to build mental models in his mind of relationships between thepresented activity data objects 115′ and the presented JDIs 117′. Morespecifically, Max 101′ can use the simultaneous presentations on display111′ of selected activity data objects 115′ and selected unstructureddata items 117′ to reinforce in his mind (within his mental models 101c′) some earlier recognized and recorded linkages between certain onesof the structured activity ideas (say, those described by objects ADO.1and ADO.2). The earlier recognized and recorded linkages (represented assolid, double ended arrow lines in area 101 c′) may also be betweencertain ones of the unstructured data items and the structured ones(say, between the ideas underlying the expressions of JDI.1 and ADO.1).Max may use the presented ADOs (115′) and JDIs (117′) of screen view111′ to recognize in his mind (101 c′) new associations such as say,between the ideas of ADO.1 and JDI.2 (the new mental linkages arerepresented as dashed, double ended arrow lines in area 101 c′). Moreparticularly, suppose that ADO.1 represents an expressed idea for a workrelated activity. Suppose that ADO.2 represents an expressed idea for aleisure-related activity, for example taking a vacation in the Bahamas.In viewing the associated journal data items (JDI.1 and JDI.2) of ADO.1and ADO.2, Max suddenly realizes that concepts expressed by unstructureddata item, JDI.2 might usefully contribute to further development of thestructured activity described by data object ADO.1. Max then might useediting/navigating tools 241 to modify the activity data object (instorage 251) of ADO.1 so that the modified activity data object will belogically linked (in computer 110 of FIG. 1) to the underlying JDI (instorage 252 a) represented by JDI.2. The next time that Max reviews apresentation of his organized activities tree, the presentation forJDI.2 will be shown as being logically linked to the presentation forADO.1. (See briefly linkage 631 of FIG. 6D). Max may then take furtheraction accordingly, such as by adding new child-activities to the ADO.1parent or such as by searching for and entering into his journal, newjournal data items.

In contrast to the presentation filtering options described above, themodifications that Max may elect to make to the content, properties orattributes of activity data objects 251 and/or journal data items 252 a,252 b that Max owns are schematically represented by modificationelement 248, which for convenience sake is shown to also be in thepresentation filtering & updates layer 245. In performing a modifyingaction via element 248, Max may alter his computer-recorded version ofhis structured activity data objects and/or unstructured journal dataitems. He can allow his machine to immediately transmit representationsof these modifications as updates to other workers (e.g., Adam) or hecan continue to review and revise his own work product by himself whiledelaying the updating operation. If a given modification (248) is madeonly to locally stored ADOs and/or JDIs of local storage media 258, theresponse time should be relatively short. There need not be any relianceon an active and operative connection 291 to external networks andservers. Thus Max gets a sense that his own activity descriptions(defined by ADO's) and supporting data (defined by JDI's) are availableon a relatively immediate and persistent basis. There need not be anywaiting for network-mediated transactions to complete.

The same advantages might apply to how Adam Assistant 102′ interactswith his local computer 120 (in FIG. 1). Adam may use his own,individually crafted filters 243–244 to present to himself filteredversions of his respective and individually-crafted activitydescriptions 253 and of his locally journaled data items 254 a and/orhis remotely journal data items 254 b in formats of his choosing. Adammay use the generated and viewed presentations 125′, 127′ to build hisown local mental model(s) 102 c′ of associations between variousinterrelated activity ideas (represented by data objects ADO.3, ADO.4)and/or unstructured data items (e.g. JDI.3, JDI.4). Adam may use histools 242 to modify, refine or update any of his local or remoteactivity data objects and journal data items and how they are presentedback to himself. Adam can work alone (280) during this phase of theprocess. His filtering, analyzing, and refining operations (243, 244,249) do not necessarily rely on their being an active connection 293between his computer and the network (128 c′) or on there being anactive connection 291 between Max Manager's computer and a network. Ofcourse, for Adam to access his remote journal data items 254 b, Adam'snetwork connection 293 should be active at the time of access. It may beleft to Adam's discretion to decide which journal data items areimportant enough to preserve as locally-maintained ones 254 a on thelocal storage media 259 and which may be relegated to remote storagesuch as on remote media 299. Privacy issues and accessibility by himselfand/or others may of course be used in making such determinations.

In one embodiment, the ACMAN system also stores its users' structuredactivity descriptions and, optionally, its users' journal items onto acentralized storage means via a centralized network when user's localmachine is actively and persistently connected to the centralizednetwork. In this embodiment, Max and/or a system administrator can givepermissions to outside persons (e.g., Charlie) to come in as ghostviewers via a network and to see for themselves, the presentations 111(in FIG. 1) that Max is, was, or could have been seeing on his machine(110) when using his, Max's, underlying data (251, 252 a, 252 b) andoptionally his filters 246–247. Parts of Max's filters 246–247 can bepre-programmed by Max and stored in his machine area (110). Visitingghost viewers (e.g., Charlie, represented by 203″) can retrieve andpresent expressions of the underlying ADOs and/or JDIs, and optionallyuse Max's pre-configured and stored filter specifications, for use inquickly seeing what Max was (may have been) seeing. The ghost viewpresentations may be automatically limited, or filtered, based onprivacy level settings per ADO versus the privacy access level that maybe granted to each ghost viewer. If a JDI has extra-journal links tomore than one ADO that have different privacy level settings, that JDImay also be filtered according to the most restricting privacy levelsetting. In addition, Max may entirely turn off ghost viewing access tohis journal presentation area. In one variation, Max or Adam can alsocontrol which ghost viewers have retrieval access to which of theirpre-configured filter specifications. Because a ghost viewer likeCharlie 203″ may be able to come virtually into Max's machine area andsee essentially what Max was seeing (view 111′), that ghost viewer(203″) has better opportunity to understand what Max is thinking about.The ghost visitor can start to see things from Max's perspective. Thislive, real-time ghost viewing capability may require an active networkconnection from Charlie's machine (not shown) to Max's machine 110 (inFIG. 1).

Such a ghost viewing capability may alternatively be emulated (withoutrequiring a live and continuous connection) on an ACMAN system user'slocal machine by using foyered copies as shall be better detailed below.Briefly, this may be achieved through asynchronous updates 266 messaged,or transmitted, from Max's machine area to Adam's machine area and/orasynchronous updates from Adam's machine area to Max's machine area.Such updates may be determined with supervisory relationships that Adamcan indicate on Adam's ACMAN system, or through explicit and/or passiveactivity sharing wherein a given ADO contains its own information aboutother users that may be sharing involvement in the activity representedby that same ADO. Such explicit activity sharing may be of one ofseveral possible types, including Dg (Delegated), WS (WorkShare), and/orFYI (For Your Information) sharing types. These will be furtherdescribed below. Briefly, Delegated sharing may be understood asexpression-sharing where accountability is passed on to anotherparticipant. WorkShare (or sometimes called WorkSharing) may beunderstood as expression-sharing where accountability is mutually sharedby two or more people. FYI may be understood as expression-sharing whereaccountability is at least initially, not be shared at all, but ratherwhere information about one's activity(ies) is being relayed to otherusers merely so they can become aware of it. In the case of supervisoryrelationships, Adam may identify in his system whitelist which othersupervising users should be updated for his Activity Data Objects and/orJDIs, provided the changed ADO's or JDI's meet the privacy access levelfor each respective supervisor. This can be done without necessarilyneeding to identify the supervisory users on a per activity data objectbasis. In the case of explicit activity sharing, ADOs on Adam's ACMANsystem might respectively list other user(s) that may happen to beparticipants in the activity represented by the ADO. If Adam did notoriginate the idea for the activity, then one of the other participantsis actually the master, or originator of the activity idea. If Adamhimself originated and shared the activity idea with other users, thoseother users can be considered as being regular participants. Copies ofADOs and/or extra-journal linked JDIs that are modified, added ordeleted by Adam may be sent as updates to corresponding participants bytransmitted updates as will be detailed later below. Briefly, if Adammodifies a specific ADO, the ACMAN system may look up all of theparticipants specified within that ADO's data structure and may add themto a temporary update list, and then it may add further users listed inthe “supervisors” whitelist to this temporary update list. Then Adam'sACMAN system can send updates to the machines of the users identified inthis temporary update list, providing of course, that each so-identifieduser further meets the privacy/access level setting(s) stored in the ADOdata structure.

Regardless of whether asynchronous updates occur due to supervisoryrelationships or due to explicit activity sharing, such asynchronousupdates may be messaged indirectly through an email exchange server,through an instant messaging service, ftp, or any other direct orindirect messaging scheme that might be available. As a result of themessaging exchanges, users that receive update messages then may have intheir own machines, local, updated copies of the respective updatedactivity data objects and/or JDIs owned by other users. Both the live(or synchronous) and the asynchronous embodiments described above areimprovements over systems that do not allow users to persistently seethings from the perspective of other users.

As implied already, as Max and Adam work alone on their respectiveprojects, there will generally come a time when Max and/or Adam decidesit is worthwhile to collaborate on part or all of his respectiveproject. This can be done by sending out Delegation, WorkSharing, or FYIupdates, supervisory updates, or ghost agent information to selectedrecipients, or by otherwise invoking cooperation on the refinement andcarrying out of various activity ideas and their corresponding activitydescriptions. When this collaboration stage (270) is reached, variousparts of the communications layer 290 should be operatively coupled tothe computers of respective participants at the time of use by each. Theparticipants do not need to be online all at the same time. A dataexchange server 295 such as an email exchanger or other internet servermay be used for transferring data between Max's local domain and Adam'slocal domain. (While email is a highly convenient means of transferringActivity Data Objects because most users have email exchangecapabilities, other exchange methods may be additionally oralternatively used, including instant messaging, ftp based transmission,etc.)

When a thought-product exchange occurs, all the problems about use ofdifferent language, etc. can come into play. Suppose Max Manager 101′wishes to transfer (261) to Adam Assistant 102′ a selected subset ofMax's activity describing objects 251. Adam may additionally oralternatively wish to transfer to Max a selected subset of Adam'sactivity describing objects 253. (They may also elect to exchange copiesof their pre-configured presentation filters 246–247, 243–244.) Suchcollaborative, unidirectional or bi-directional transmissions arerepresented by dashed path 261 in FIG. 2. Adam and Max may use differentterms for representing similar concepts and neither may realize thatthis is what is happening. A cross-referencing dictionary means such asshown at 263 may be provided to help each of Adam and Max to betterunderstand one another. Max may use a specific Term1 for representing acertain concept while Adam uses a slightly different Term1 a forrepresenting the same or a slightly different concept. (E.g., Max maysay “tubers” while Adam may prefer to say “potatoes”.) This crossreferencing may just as easily be used for mapping different languages,say between Japanese and English. However, a problem with havingunabridged cross-referencing dictionaries is that the participationgroup may expand may expand to include more players than just Max andAdam (see briefly FIG. 4). Storage for many such dictionaries can becomea problem.

In one embodiment, shared activity ideas may have both an “embedded”representation and one or more “foyered” representations, both of whichmay be stored locally on each activity participant's machine area (or anassociated storage). For example, the embedded representations may be auser's own activity data object that are embedded within his ownpersonal activity data object tree. Each activity participating user canedit his own embedded version of an Activity Data Object because he ownsthat embedded object. At the same time, each activity participating usercan also view the locally stored, and sporadically-updated, copies ofthe other participants' ADO's where those other ADO's correspond to thesame activity idea, even if they describe the activity idea differently.The locally stored, and sporadically-updated, copies of the otherparticipants' ADO's are referred to herein as a “foyered” activity dataobjects. As each participant modifies his own embedded activitydescriptions, updates representing these modified activity data objectsmay be messaged, or transmitted, asynchronously to the other activityparticipants so that their foyered versions of these activitydescriptions can present the latest version, with the appropriateupdates, as soon as the messaging takes place. In this manner, there canbe a persistently-updated cross referencing scheme developed between thedifferently worded and/or differently organized activity descriptions ofdifferent users. This cross referencing scheme may allow for the viewingof other participants hierarchy trees as well as some or all internalsof their respective activity data objects. (This will be described infurther detail later in this disclosure.) So, if Adam sees thedifferently structured linkages which Max has established betweenrespective activity data objects 251 in Max's tree (see briefly alsoitem 1460 b of FIG. 14), Adam should be able to better understand howMax's plans may interrelate or not with corresponding activity dataobjects in Adam's tree 253. The mapped cross-linkages between embeddedADO's and foyered ADO's allow each user to create a very differenthierarchical structure for his/her activities and to, at the same time,see how one or more other users are structuring their own activitydescriptions. More specifically, in FIG. 1 it is seen that Max Manager101 may have an elaborate tree structure 115 representing his variousstructured activity data objects. On the other hand, Adam Assistant 102may have a relatively simpler representation of the interrelationsbetween his activity data objects 125 (or 126). It is often helpfultherefore to have some means of cross-mapping organizational structurein addition to or instead of just a terminology cross-referencingdictionary 263. The tree-to-tree, organizational cross-mapping andterminology cross-referencing can help Max to better understand how Adamuses his, Adam's terminologies in various contexts and it allows Adam tosimilarly understand how Max uses his terminologies in various contexts.(See briefly FIG. 16B 1635 and 1616′ for a similar example, where Max issharing an activity with Harry HR and their activity trees can becompared within their respective work-focused contexts 1650 and 1651.)

Another of the problems that has been mentioned above is that ofestablishing work sharing agreements. Without agreements, the left handmay quickly lose sight of what the right hand is doing in a project thatinvolves many people. A rudimentary schematic for the concept of makingand recording agreements is shown at 265 (in layer 260 of FIG. 2). In acase where Max wishes to delegate to Adam the completion of aparticular, structured activity (or of a group of activities), Max maysend a copy 115 a (FIG. 1) of the activity description to Adam'scomputer. If the communications layer 290 is working and Adam receivesthe delegation request, Adam may have the option of accepting thedelegated task or rejecting it. (In some environments Adam might nothave a choice.) Max may need to know which option Adam has chosen. IfAdam has declined the delegated work, then Max 101′ may have the optionof asking another worker, say Bob (not shown) to instead accept theproposed delegation of work. It could be that Adam's network connection293 is inactive at the time and that is why Adam is not responding tothe request. Max Manager may need to know what the situation is so thathe can efficiently distribute collaborative work. By the same token,Adam Assistant 102′ may request that Max Manager accept delegation ofsome other structured activity as indicated by activity sharingagreement #2 in table 265. Max Manager may also send so-called For YourInformation (FYI) structured activity data objects to Adam, as indicatedby agreement #3 in table 265. Adam may not need to reply, and Adam'ssystem may or may not respond; accordingly, the response may be recordedas “Not Expected” (“NE”) in Max's system since it was only FYI. Or Adammay reply by saying thanks but no thanks (i.e., “Denied” as in 704 inFIG. 7, which will be embellished later). Alternatively Adam mayvolunteer to join the collaborative effort so that it becomes an“Active” ADO (see 704) for Adam, although it was not initially“Delegated” to Adam or offered as a “WorkSharing” activity. In oneembodiment, machine-recorded indications may be provided for eachstructured activity data object in Max's pool 251 and Adam's pool 253for what activity sharing agreements are being negotiated, what thestate of negotiations is, and what specific compacts may have been madebetween the various participants. This is shown for instance in 614 a(FIG. 6A) at a summary level and expanded by Max in 700 (FIG. 7) at adetailed level. Activity sharing agreements are not limited to the Dg,WS and FYI types described here. The system may be simplified with fewerarrangement options, or expanded to handle more complex activity sharingtype arrangements. Such more complex arrangements may be defined byprogrammable templates that have Dg, WS and FYI as some of theirelemental components. Much of this disclosure describes the system ashaving four sharetypes: Not Shared, so called Dg (Delegated), so calledWS (WorkShared), and so called FYI (For Your Information). But that doesnot necessarily have to be the case for the ACMAN system. For instance,there could be no distinct sharing types. The system could alternativelyhave any number of sharing types (two, three, four, or more) withdifferent sharing properties and/or meanings. Such sharetype sets couldinclude one or more of:

-   a) one sharetype (i.e., no distinction of shared or not); or-   b) two sharetypes {no sharing, sharing} or equivalents; or-   c) three sharetypes {no sharing; active involvement sharing;    awareness sharing but no active involvement (for your information)}    or equivalents; or-   d) four sharetypes {no sharing; multiple-participant involved    sharing; delegated involved sharing; awareness but no involvement    sharing (for your information)} or equivalents; or-   e) any number of more granular states of sharing.    Yet another example of a more complex arrangement could be,    contingent cross-delegation: “I'll take over responsibility for your    tasks A and B only if you agree to take over responsibility for my    tasks C and D.”

The schematically illustrated communications layer 290 of FIG. 2 issimpler than that which may actually exist between Max and Adam. Therecan be one or more private servers which provide data exchangecommunication between Max Manager and Adam Assistant in addition to theInternet-based data exchange server shown at 295 (e.g. email server).The intent here is to allow circumvention of the private organizationservers (e.g. 130 of FIG. 1) so that any two or more persons can use thepublic Internet or an alike communications media for more freelyexchanging activity ideas (as represented by data objects 251, 253) andto more freely exchange activity sharing proposals and agreements. Asidefrom exchanging (261) structured activity data objects, each of MaxManager and Adam Assistant may use their respective connections 291, 293to the Internet (115 c′, 128 c′) for mining for various journal dataitems from web forums 296–297 or from other parts of the Internet. Theweb forums 296–297 may be seen as providing slightly-less availabilitydue to possible server or client network decoupling, but would be andcollaborative sharing of relatively unstructured data items, useable asexternally stored journal data items that might otherwise have beenlocal to each user's machine area. So ACMAN system users may haveattributes of their ADOs that point to one or more specific web forums,and those web forums might act as a shared journal for the given ADOs.In one embodiment, the web-forums may be organized as threads ofconversation about a particular activity idea or activity data object.Presentation filtering and update layer 245 can be used to limit orotherwise control the presentation of these web-forum items to eachrespective user. For instance, such web-forums may be presented in placeof the local journal data items presentations, in such a way thatthreads of discussions related to a given selected ADO may be shown inone place. Alternatively, the user may instruct the presentationfiltering layer 245 to show only the local JDIs (i.e. the JDIs stored inthe user's local journal) associated with a selected ADO. Or, the usermay even instruct the presentation filtering layer 245 to integrate intothe ACMAN journal presentation area a presentation of both the localJDIs and the non-local data items from the web-forum. This scheme willbe described further, later in the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an overview diagram of one embodiment 300 where separatemachine area storage components for two independent users, User A andUser B, are shown. User A may have a machine area 312 provided on media302 upon which several aspects of his/her electronic data items or otherdata items pertaining to his ACMAN system may be stored. One possiblestructuring of the data items that User A's machine area might includeis shown in the expanded view of area 312. Media 302 may be a singlephysical storage device or a set of multiple physical storage devices.Media 302 may be located in the same physical hardware system as UserA's CPU, or it may be located elsewhere on a local or other network oreven at an internet-accessed location. Media 302 may correspond to thelocal storage media 258 (described in FIG. 2). In one embodiment, User Ahas at least read and/or write access, and/or he maintains generalownership of the data stored in machine area 312, and as needed, he canestablish limited network-access and/or other security measures (e.g.,encryption) over machine area 312 so that other users will not be ableto intelligently read, write and/or execute to this machine area ofstorage. Occasionally, User A may wish to archive or backup some aspectsof his work product, and the ACMAN system might support such archivingor backups of data items onto a backup storage device 301 that may beseparately located from media 302. Optionally, items 301 and 302 may beeither the same physical storage device (hard disk drive, etc.) orseparate storage devices.

User A and User B may typically be different individuals. In oneembodiment it is possible that User A and User B could represent thesame individual person, but as that person has logically separateidentities with separate work product and separate User Names. In eithercase, from the perspective of the storage components and networkinter-relationships described in FIG. 3, User B might havecorrespondingly similar properties and description as that of User Aabove, except of course that as shown in FIG. 3, User B has a machinearea indicated by 313 on media 308 instead of machine area 312 on media302. Moreover, User B may have archive storage area 309 instead of 301.In one embodiment, User A and User B machines may be peers in a networkwith possibly similar physical storage components and or other physicalresources.

As such, this following description of the possible components inmachine area 312 for User A may apply in a corresponding manner for UserB with respect to machine area 313. We may occasionally refer to User Aas “Max” just for the sake of an example, and similarly, we may refer toUser B as “Adam”, again, just for convenience. Machine area A maycontain a Profile and Preferences section 321, that may indicate Max'sUser Name, his contact address(es), his ACMAN system settingpreferences, and other overall user & system related indicators. Machinearea A may also contain an Activities Folder area 315 for storingstructured Activity Data Object items as well as other Activity DataObject management header information. For instance, the ACMAN system maycreate various database indexes referencing the various ADOs in folder315. Such management header information might improve the ACMAN systemperformance or provide other benefits. Within the Activities Folder 315,there may be a first storage area 315 a that includes ADOs, if any, forMax's embedded activity tree. There can be yet a second storage area 315b that is used for storing “foyered” ones, if any, of Adam's ADOs. Therecan be yet a third or more storage areas 315 c that are used for storing“foyered” ones of ADO's belonging to yet other respective users, if any.These embedded and foyered ADOs might be arranged in storage in noparticular order, but the distinction of the possible three or more treeareas indicated in 315 is intended as a logical distinction, whoseramifications will become more apparent later in the disclosure. JournalFolder 316 area might store unstructured Journal Data Items and otherjournal related information as later explained in FIG. 10. Similar tosection 315, the Journal Folder might contain a first storage area 316 afor Max's embedded journal data items, if any. There can be yet a secondstorage area 316 b that is used for storing “foyered” ones, if any, ofAdam's journal data items. There can be yet a third or more storageareas 316 c that are used for storing “foyered” ones of JDI's belongingto yet other respective users, if any. Section 317 might include currentdisplay preference settings as well as current display settings thatmight be reset when Max re-activates his ACMAN system softwareapplication. This section might also include Max's customizedmeta-search criteria, which will be described later in this disclosure.Section 318 might include an optional Supervisor(s) List. This mightinclude a list of User Names and/or possibly their contact address(es),representing people that Max may want his ACMAN system to automaticallytransmit to and/or update regarding his ADOs and optionally his JDIs,without Max having to manually cause each ADO update to occur. In oneembodiment, the supervisor indications in the Supervisor's List 318might be derived from a corporate organization chart or supervisormodule 335 that might exist in an organization's pre-existing humanresources or other systems. The ACMAN system might include tools toimport 336 such a pre-existing org-chart or supervisor list 335 into thelocal Supervisor List 318, or alternatively, such a pre-existing list335 might be used instead of the local Supervisor List 318. Section 319might include a Contact Table, which might include references to otherACMAN system users and/or other people Max might interact with. Such atable might include User Names, their respective real world names, theircontact address(es), and/or the level of privacy/access level that Maxor a system administrator might want to indicate for other such users.Note that a contact table 332 from a different software applicationand/or storage location 334 might be modularly socketted in and used inlieu of or in addition to this local one 319. Additionally oralternatively, modular plug-ins from different software applicationsand/or storage locations might be used in conjunction with data sections317, 318, and/or 319. The local, non-socketted data may contain datarequired by ACMAN but not provided by the external source(s). (Suchpossible arrangements in conjunction with section 319 are indicated bythe logical connection line 333 in the diagram.) For instance, there maybe some fields unique to ACMAN, such as User Name or possibly privacylevel, that may not exist in such other contact tables. So a commonidentifier between the local table 319 and an external table 332, suchas possibly a user's real world user name or alternatively their emailaddress, could be used as a query joining variable to tie them together.Although it is not shown in the diagram, a separate external contacttable similar to 332 as described above could similarly replace orcoexist with User B's contact table 329. This external contact tablecould be specific to User B or it could be a shared contact table, suchthat many users' machines, including User A and User B, might utilizethe shared contact table. Lastly, a transactions table 320 mightoptionally be included. This table might historically record one or moretypes of transactions including the actions Max performs on his ADO's,JDI's or other work product, and the data items his machine transmits toand/or receives from other alike machines (as well as possibly dataitems his machine transmits to other unalike machines, described laterin FIG. 17). Transactions table 320 can therefore provide a listing ofmodified and updated ADOs and/or JDIs and the times that they were lastmodified, updated, and so on. A transactions table 320 for recordingdatabase transactions and/or user-to-machine instructions should befamiliar to those skilled in the art. It should be readily apparent thatsuch a transaction table might enable the ACMAN system to provide itsusers with a means to cause their machine to undo and optionally andsubsequently redo one or more machine instructions. Such instructionscould include ADO and/or JDI record modifications and/or differentrequested screen presentations (similar to a web browser's “go back” or“go forward” button). By maintaining a record of ADOs and/or JDIs thathave been modified by Max, and which therefore may need to betransmitted to other users as updates when Max's machine is coupled to acommunications network, the corresponding update messages can be moreefficiently generated since Max's ACMAN system would only need to accessthe ADOs and/or JDIs listed in the transactions table as recentlymodified. Without such a transactions table, the ACMAN system might needto access and check each ADO and/or JDI on Max's machine area todetermine if an update transmission might be required.

Machine Area A 312 may well include further or alternate storagecomponents. For instance, not shown are any temporary buffer memoryareas, or any review areas for temporary storage of incoming ADOs, JDIs,and/or other electronic messages. So, FIG. 3 illustrates only a possibleset of components described in other parts of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is intended to also indicate that Max and Adam might instructtheir machines to manually or automatically transmit and receivemessages to/from each other across the internet or any other network303. Max and Adam may not be the only users that may communicate in thecontext of this ACMAN system. There may be many other participants inother parts of the internet or other networks, 310 or 311 who arecommunicating with one another, and/or with Max and Adam regardingshared activity ideas. However, focusing for now only on Max and Adam'smachine areas, it can be seen that Max's machine may transmit firstelectronic or other energy signals 307 to Adam's machine area regardingan activity idea represented by expression “X”. That expressed activityidea “X” may be represented by a copy or derived copy of an ADO obtainedfrom Max's embedded tree area 315 a. (Note at times within thisdescription, the word copying is used loosely to indicate that a portionrather than all of a given data structure is being replicated. Forexample, when a derived copy of an owner's ADO is processed so that itcan be transmitted as an outbound ADO, certain attributes or attributevalues from the original ADO may be left out and/or others may berespectively appended or modified for a given purpose.) The first signalmay include this ADO copy as well derived copies of other ADOs fromMax's system (for instance, as illustrated in area 1604 of FIG. 16Aand/or as in 115 b in FIG. 1). The expressed activity idea “X” mayoptionally be supplemented by transmitted copies of JDIs from Max'sembedded journal area 316 a. The initially transmitted expression “X”may be further supplemented by other signaled data items.

If and when Adam receives the initially transmitted expression “X” 307from Max, Adam's ACMAN system may record a derived copy of theexpression into Max's foyered area 325 b on Adam's machine area. Adammay review a presentation of that expression. Adam may choose tointegrate an expression of that initially transmitted expression “X” 307into his embedded activities tree. Adam may also modify this derivativeworkproduct that is in his embedded activities tree according to his ownpreferences and perspective. Adam's modifications to his owned,derivative workproduct might generally be stored in Adam's embedded dataareas, 325 a and 326 a. In order to inform Max of the modifications,Adam's machine may transmit update messages 306 back to Max's machinearea. The modified, derivative workproduct 306 is now designated as X′(prime), because X′ (prime) represents Adam's rather than Max's ownedexpression of Max's initially shared activity idea X. If and when Maxreceives X′ (prime) 306, Max's ACMAN system may record a derived copy ofX′ (prime) in Adam's foyered activity tree on Max's machine area 315 b(and optionally 316 b if JDIs are also being shared). As can now beunderstood, both Max and Adam can access on their local machine areastheir respectively owned (embedded) and possibly derived copies of theinitial, or original, activity idea expression. They both also canaccess on their local machine areas the respective others' foyeredexpressions derived from the initial, or original, activity ideaexpression. (This might be possible even if now both Max and Adam havetemporarily decoupled their machines from any communication networks.)They may continue this back and forth updating process 306 and 307 asthey continue to work together and modify their respective workproducts. Conversely, Adam may initiate his own activity idea Y, andshare its expression 305 with Max. Max, as the invited participant ofactivity idea Y, may then update Adam 304 with his current version ofthe original activity idea; Max's current version is represented byexpression Y′ (prime). In such a manner, Max and Adam may exchange theirown respective views of activities they are both interested in.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for introducing a working example. It isassumed that Max Manager 401 works for a fictitious company, referred toherein as the International Food Wholesalers Corporation (IFWC). AdamAssistant 402 also works for the same corporate organization 430. Notethat Adam, throughout this fictitious example, could just as easily bedescribed as a person outside of the I FWC organization, for instance anoutside consultant who does not work as an employee within the sameorganization as does Max. The organization is headed by Charlie Chief403. Charlie Chief 403 has a Management By Objective (MBO) description(431) for his organization, namely, to become the number 1 wholesaledistributor of health foods in the world. Harry H. Resources 404 isanother worker for the common organization 430 (IFWC). Harry's job is tooversee human resource needs of the corporation within its NorthAmerican operations.

Although Max, Adam, Charlie and Harry all share the commonality of beingassociated with a same food organization 430, each person should beviewed as a unique individual who may have his own surrounding worldwith intertwined pulls and pushes on that person's (Max's) time,energies and/or other resources. More specifically, aside from thatportion of his life which focuses on paid-for work 411, Max Manager mayhave a house 412 and a family 414. There may be overlapping issues ofconflict or cooperation 417 between work (411), family (414) and house(412). For example, Max may wish to schedule a party for co-workers ofhis organization 430 in his home 412. The planning and implementation ofthis party is referenced as “Party Project” 410. Max realizes his partyproject 410 will require cooperation from family members 414. Each ofMax's family members 414 may have his or her own set of scheduledactivities and objectives. Max Manager 401 may need to seek thecollaborative assistance of family members 414, co-workers 402 through404, friends 415 or others in seeing the party project 410 to successfulfruition. The party project 410 can be sufficiently complex to warrantthe use of computerized scheduling and collaboration for planning andcarrying it out. (By way of example, Max may be inviting many people. Hewill need a food caterer, an entertainment manager, a valet parkingcrew, etc. It can be fairly involved.)

Beyond home, family and work, Max's interests may include memberships invarious professional organizations 413. Max may have hobbies 416, suchas playing golf. The golf game or other hobby 416 may call forcollaborative organization with friends 415 or co-workers 402 through404. Certain events may occur at the golf game 416 which impact MaxManager's world 401 in many subdomains. For example, during a friendlygolf game Charlie Chief 403 suggests to Max that Max is up for apromotion if Max agrees to transfer to a different geographic location(e.g. to a different city). This decision, of course, will likely havemajor impacts on Max's other interrelations with family 414, friends 415and home 412. It can therefore be seen that Max lives in a complex worldand he may benefit from help in organizing his various “activities”410–416. A sudden tug in one subdomain (e.g. golf with Charlie at 416)can have drastic consequences in other subdomains (e.g. family 414 andfriends 415). The here disclosed Activities Coordinating & MANagementsoftware system (ACMAN system, FIG. 1, 105) allows Max to bettercoordinate all of his activities if he so chooses.

More generally speaking, Max Manager's World 401 may be seen as beingconstituted by different sets of constantly evolving areas of activity.Some areas of Max's activities like 418 may be newly adapted ones whichare undergoing expansion. Other areas of activity like 419 may be oldones that are shrinking and taking on a less prominent role in MaxManager's World 401. For a busy person like Max, it may be important toorganize all of his activities in a structured manner so that Max canprioritize, plan, and execute his activities in order to achieve histop-level goals as well as his tactical responsibilities. It isunderstood from FIG. 4 that Adam's World 402 can be equally complex andcan have many different facets 421, 422, etc. which call for structuredorganization and in some cases, collaboration with others. The same canbe true for Harry HR 404 and Charlie Chief 403, as well as peopleoutside of the IFWC organization (not shown). In particular, CharlieChief 403 may wish to maintain oversight over many of the activitiesbeing undertaken by employees or affiliates of his organization (IFWC)430. Without the help of automated tools, this can be quite a dauntingchallenge.

It is worthwhile to understand how activities often come into being, andevolve and become increasingly complex. This understanding will aid inbetter appreciating how the here disclosed Activity Data Objects (ADO's;see briefly FIG. 12A) and journal data items (see briefly FIG. 9A andFIG. 9B) can combine to better support activity development andtracking. FIG. 5 is a combined schematic and flowchart which illustratesa number of different ways in which activities can be planned and/orimplemented. Bubble 550 shows four development and/or deploymentmethodologies. These methodologies are not mutually exclusive per se,and in many cases, they are complementary.

A commonly recognized management and planning methodology is calledManagement By Objectives. This is a process that typically comprisessetting specific goals participatively, often in a Top-Down 551 as wellas a Bottom-Up 552 approach. In carrying out a Top-Down planning method551, a relatively generalized (abstract), and high level objective 551 ais defined and hierarchically positioned at the peak of a mountain-likeorganizational structure. By way of example, the uppermost objective 551a might initially be described as: “Increase IFWC's market share in soybean based products to 50%”. This top tier objective 551 a may then beexpanded into a wider next level tier where more details are spelledout. For example, one of the implementation details may be to increaseIFWC's advertising budget for certain soy-based products. Anotherimplementation detail might be to hire more sales personnel in variouscities. Yet another implementation detail may be to establish newcontracts with more suppliers of raw soy beans. Each of these secondtier activity data objectives can then be further expanded and refinedso that an ever widening base 551 b of the mountain-like structure 551evolves. The downwardly-advancing base 551 b of the Top-Downpyramid-like structure can include both refinement in planning and inthe deployment of planned activities.

Another method for developing and deploying plans is that of Bottom-Upplanning. This activity development and/or deployment methodology isschematically shown at 552. Usually, in Bottom-Up planning, a subset 552a of initially unrelated activities and/or activity ideas are found tobe supporting of a previously unrecognized peak 552 b. As time goes on,certain parts of the grass roots level of activities and ideas 552 a areallowed to continue to grow while others are weeded out. Sometimes anunexpected new top goal 552 c emerges to replace or exist alongside theinitial top goal 552 b. Sometimes, certain paths taken end up as deadends 552 d. Sometimes, certain holes 552 e develop in the progression ofdevelopment. These holes 552 e may not be immediately filled withsolutions. Later on, a puzzle filling methodology 553 may besuccessfully used for plugging the hole(s) 552 e in the Bottom-Upplanning structure 552. The puzzle filling activity 553 may itself havea Top-Down structure (551) or a Bottom-Up structure (552) or some othersolution form.

Besides the more traditionally-acknowledged, Top-Down and Bottom-Upapproaches, 551 and 552, it is also common to find circular forms ofactivity development and deployment 554. More specifically, a samegeneral set of tasks may be consistently carried out over and overagain. However, as time progresses, some parts of the tasks are improvedon 554 a or added to while other parts of the task are reduced orremoved 554 b because they are found to be inefficient. Thus, likebiological creatures, circular types (554) of activity development anddeployment methods can grow, change, and evolve into different creaturesas time progresses. The here disclosed Activities Coordinating &MANagement software system (ACMAN system) can accommodate the differentcreatures in the development zoo 550 and can allow them to peacefullycoexist.

Flowchart 560 takes a more detailed look at some of the activities thatmay occur during development and/or deployment (551–554) of activityideas and activity descriptions. At step 561, an idea developer or“originator” 555 (say Max) starts to explore, define, review or redefineand re-review objectives of assigned tasks, or not-yet-expressed taskideas, within an overall hierarchy of activity expressions (e.g., ADO's)and idea-initiating data (e.g., JDI's) that the user 555 may have on hisACMAN system. For example, if Max (555) finds that a top-level objective551 a of his local pyramid structure 551 is too narrow in scope, he maydecide that yet a higher level tier should go on top of original peak551 a. In essence, he is switching from a Top-Down approach 551 to aBottom-Up approach 552. The here disclosed ACMAN system (e.g., FIG. 1,105) can accommodate such switches of scope and approach.

In step 562 a the developer (Max) may recognize new problems and/orobstacles or review earlier recognized ones. The developer may changeand/or add to his definitions of the problems and obstacles that hefaces as he continues a particular development trend. These uncovered orrefined expressions of problems can be thought of as new activitydescriptions to be added to a plan tree or refined within the tree. Thehere disclosed ACMAN system 105 can conveniently accommodate suchchanges.

In step 562 b, the developer focuses on solutions or workarounds. Thedeveloper explores or recognizes or evaluates and reevaluates ideas fordifferent types of solutions or workarounds that are possible forproblems and obstacles recognized in step 562 a. For example, if hole552 e is recognized to exist within structure 552, the developer 555 mayfind a way of working around this hole and avoiding it in order to reachthe currently-defined-as-ultimate goal 552 b. Additionally oralternatively one or more hole-filling solutions 553 may be found andthen the developer will have to decide whether to use a hole work-aroundsolution or a puzzle-filling solution 553 or both in order to reach theultimate goal 552 b. The here disclosed ACMAN system 105 can accommodatesuch hunts for solutions, and the expressing of these solutions, and theincorporation of expressed solutions into a hierarchical activity tree.

In step 563, the developer looks at the progress made thus far indeveloping and/or deploying the overall project. The developer mayrecognize that he needs to redefine and/or reevaluate his description ofthe progress made thus far. In a follow-up step 564, the developer mayselect or change the next state of planning, development and/ordeployment. The developer may decide to give up on a path that appearsto be a dead end 552 d. The developer may decide to change the mainobjective from say, one expressed as 552 b to another main objectivethat is expressed as 552 c by for example, re-prioritizing activitydescriptions—this occurring after the developer has recognized andreevaluated the progress made thus far (step 563). The here disclosedACMAN system 105 can conveniently support re-prioritizing andre-organizing of activity descriptions.

Activities 561–564 might be carried out in an initial one or more goarounds by a single individual 555 (e.g., Max) and some parts may becarried out entirely within his mind. However, as with most substantiveprojects, the development of ideas reaches a point of sufficientcomplexity to induce Max (555) to articulate or otherwise express theactivity ideas he has partially or fully planned and/or executed thusfar and to record this articulation or expression in a medium ofexpression (e.g., on paper or on audio tape or on computer-readablemedia). In accordance with the present disclosure, that step ofexpressing activity ideas can be conveniently carried out within theframework of the ACMAN system 105. The ACMAN system can recordunstructured data items (e.g., JDI's) that may be used to supportfurther development of activity ideas or deployment of expressed ideasand ACMAN system can also record more formally-defined activitydescriptions (e.g., ADO's) as hierarchically organized data structures.The ACMAN system can link the structured and unstructured data items toone another (e.g., JDI with ADO) and/or to others of their own kind(e.g., JDI-to-JDI and ADO-to-ADO). Repetition loop 566 contemplates arepeated carrying outs of steps 561–565 as may be desired by thedeveloper. During the repetitions 566, Max may collect (568) additionalinformation and/or expressions of new thoughts, ideas, etc. from varioussources including from interactions with various people, databases,emails, and/or the internet, etc. As various random snippets ofinformation and/or idea expressions come into and gel in Max's mind, hemay realize that he should formally define new activities and integratethe formal expressions (e.g., ADO's) into his developing planstructure(s) 551–554. He may realize that some of the earlier collectedpieces of information (e.g., JDI's) may be useful in helping toimplement certain parts of his planned activities. The ACMAN systemprovides a presentation system (see briefly FIG. 6A) that allows forconvenient gathering of and searching for journal data (see briefly FIG.9A) and for the integrated manipulation and linking of journaled datawith more formally-structured activity descriptions (e.g., ADO's). Theintegrated presentation and manipulation tools allow a project or taskdeveloper 555 to conveniently collect random snippets of electronic orother data items over time, group the collected data items in variousways, and use them for defining new activities (i.e., per Bottom-Upmethodology 552). The collection of random snippets of data items (e.g.,JDI's) may additionally or alternatively be used for assisting in theimplementation of pre-existing activity plans (i.e., per Top-Downmethodology 551).

At some point, the developer (555, e.g., Max) may wish to share (567)part or all of the work involved in the implementation and/or furtherdevelopment of parts or the whole of his individually authored andexpressed activity plans 551–554. He may wish to invite others (e.g.,Adam, Harry, etc.) to join in, actively or passively, in the reviewand/or further development and/or implementation of his expressed plans.He (Max) may wish to receive (568) information, expressed thoughts,ideas and so forth from the other people in the form of either,formally-defined activity plans, or activity descriptions (e.g., withADOs containing structured fields, and in one embodiment, ADOs that arehierarchically linked) or in the form of less-formally coalesced journaldata items. He may wish to integrate selected ones of the activity plansand/or journal data items he received from others (e.g., Adam, Harry,etc.) into his own collection of formal or informal expressions (e.g.,ADO's and JDI's) as he carries out one or more of process steps 561–565.He (Max) may wish to modify selected ones of the activity descriptionsand/or journal data items he received from others so as to create hisown, derivative workproducts that better suit his personal workingstyle. By sharing his own workproduct with others, and by receivingcopies of workproduct (e.g., ADO's, JDI's) from other people, and byintegrating the externally-sourced workproducts with his own, Max mayarrive at a more refined and improved project description.

As various people (e.g., Max 555, Adam etc.) start sending and/orreceiving copies of shared thought product, or work product, (e.g.,ADO's, JDI's) from one another, they may want to enter into moreformalized working relationships and to record their negotiatedagreements regarding who is responsible for doing what and when. Morespecifically, Max Manager may ask Adam Assistant to accept delegatedresponsibility for completing development and/or deployment of anidentified part of activity structure 551. Max Manager will want to knowif Adam has received the delegation request and accepted theresponsibility. If not, Max may elect to send a delegated task messageto someone else. Assuming that Max Manager has successfully delegatedresponsibility for completing one part of activity structure 551 toAdam, and another part to Harry, Max may still want to keep track (569)of the progress being made by the others in implementing or furtherdeveloping their respective parts or wholes of the various, andpotentially growing or evolving activity sub-plans (e.g., 553). TheACMAN system provides means for readily doing these things as shall beseen from the below and yet more detailed description.

FIG. 6A shows one possible visual presentation 600 that may be providedin accordance with the present disclosure on a computer screen 601 orelsewhere. A structured activities displaying pane is presented at 610while a journaled-items displaying pane is presented at 620. Theformalized, activity-descriptions presenting pane 610 is here displayedin a spreadsheet mode. The user may be provided with a presentationtoggling means for switching the format of the activity-descriptionspresenting pane to instead express the underlying activity-descriptions(e.g., ADO's) in a vertically-oriented graphic depiction of a nodes andbranches tree (see briefly FIG. 8) or a horizontally-oriented suchgraphic depiction (see briefly FIG. 15). In the spreadsheet-presentationformat (610 of FIG. 6A) various attributes of respective Activity DataObjects (ADO's) may be displayed on one row per ADO basis, or on aplural-rows per ADO basis, or on a plural-ADO's per row basis. As forthe plural-ADO's per row basis, corresponding attributes from the ADO'sof different owners (Mine and Harry's) may be displayed on a same lineand/or attributes from the parent-child ADO's of same owner may bedisplayed on a same line. The names of the attributes may be provided atthe top of each respective, attribute-containing column.

In the specific example of FIG. 6A, presentation is on a one ADO per rowbasis. In one embodiment, the left-most column 611 has been programmedto display a primary hierarchical path representation; an ADO does notnecessarily have to include hierarchical structure, but in thisillustrated embodiment, the ADOs include hierarchy. This primaryhierarchical path might be constructed from a possible primary parentattribute from each ADO and then concatenating their respective primaryparent ADOs all the way up to a root node ADO. In the illustratedembodiment, this path is presented using short activity descriptors ofnodes. The meaning of this will become clearer further below. Considerfor now the top most ADO row in area 610 where the short activitydescriptor field representation of that node is “Get wife birthdaypresent” (displayed in the rightmost column, 616). The primary parentsand grandparents of that node (“Get wife birthday present”) can beidentified by the root-to-primary parent pathname:“My_Activities\Personal\-Family”. In one embodiment, each Activity DataObject (ADO) except the topmost, or root, ADO must have one and only oneprimary parent branch (\) linking the ADO back along a hierarchical treeto a primary parent node (where the topmost primary parent node in thetree can be a root node with no primary parent). Therefore, one possibleway of identifying a given ADO is by following a primary hierarchicalpath from the root of its hierarchical tree (e.g., “My-Activities”) andthrough its primary grandparents if any (e.g., “Personal”), and throughits immediate primary parent (e.g., “Family”) and along the primary pathpointer that points from the primary parent (e.g., “Family”) to thetarget activity node (“Get wife birthday present”). In one embodiment,ADO's can be uniquely identified by other means as well (e.g., ADOidentifier codes), as shall become clear later below. The ADO's of oneembodiment can additionally have one or more Secondary Parent ADOs, buteach such ADO (except for the root) should still have exactly onePrimary Parent node. The sequence of Primary Parent ADOs leading to agiven ADO will be referred to herein as the given ADO's “primaryhierarchy path”. The expression of this primary hierarchy path may bemade analogous to the pathname of a directory structure in a computerfile system. Column 611 displays the primary hierarchy path in such amanner for each displayed row in pane 610, where each row representsanother ADO.

A user can programmably instruct the spreadsheet presentation program toshow all primary hierarchy paths in column 611 for his ADO's and to sortthe rows by, for example, progressively drilling deeper down along eachmain branch and sub-branch of the hierarchical tree, as is shown incolumn 611 or by sorting alphabetically or by sorting while using avariety of sequential sorting keys as may be appropriate. The user isnot pigeon holed into generating lists only according to primaryhierarchy paths. The user can additionally or alternatively instruct thespreadsheet presentation program to show all secondary hierarchy pathsin column 611 for his ADO's and to sort the displayed rows according toan appropriate sorting criteria. By enabling the presentation of ADO'sboth according to Primary Parents and according to their optionalSecondary Parents, a user can view each ADO in a broader context ofbeing not only a primary child of one parent activity but also as beingthe secondary child of one or more other activity descriptions (otherADOs). In practice, people might create categories or hierarchies ofactivities that are not truly mutually exclusive or merely top-down,i.e. they can have some relational overlap and/or some connectivecircularity. In one embodiment, wherein secondary parent-childrelationships are not strictly hierarchical, i.e. successive secondaryparent paths do not necessarily continue up to a root node, a givenparent to child directionality might not be automatically determinablebetween two secondarily connected nodes. Therefore in such anembodiment, a user indication of directionality might also be requested.So secondary hierarchy paths might allow for such overlap and/orconnective circularity (e.g., a secondary child can point to itssecondary parent as being a child of the child). Moreover, in certaincircumstances, one centrally-vital child activity may be needed tosupport or may be related to a variety of other activity descriptions ina multitude of other hierarchies or categories of activities. Forinstance, in FIG. 6A, the ADO 629 whose long description (616) is“Review Turkey contamination problem with Brad Butcher” is showncategorized under the primary hierarchy path “My Activities\Work\MeatProducts\Turkey”. However, Max Manager may have created another line ofactivity ideas for reviewing subordinate performance. Brad's performancein resolving the turkey contamination problem may be appropriatelyconnected to his performance review under the path, i.e. “MyActivities\Work\Staff\Write Staff Reviews\Brad Butcher”. The amount ofmoney spent in resolving the turkey contamination problem may also besecondarily related to the activity path of “My Activities\Work\Budget”(not shown). Therefore there can be many circumstances in which MaxManager instructs the spreadsheet presentation program to show not onlyall the primary hierarchy paths in column 611 for his ADO's but also theall the secondary hierarchy paths in column 611 for his ADO's.Additionally or alternatively may instruct the spreadsheet presentationprogram to filter out and thereby not list all the primary and secondaryhierarchy paths down along column 611, but to instead show only aquery-defined subset of these items. The advantages of allowing forsecondary associations between activity descriptions will become moreevident as further examples are provided later below. For now, it can atleast be seen that the definition of a Primary hierarchy path enablesthe ACMAN system to display a corresponding one hierarchy path in column611 for each ADO stored in the user's hierarchical tree. (A given humanuser can own more than one independent hierarchical tree, but typicallythat user will provide a different user name for each such tree.)

In spreadsheet mode, several other attributes of each displayed ADO maybe simultaneously displayed and/or used as a basis (as keys) forfiltered presentation and/or positional sorting. A few such otherattributes are displayed in columns 612 through 615. A user may uniquelyprogram the spreadsheet presentation software to display desired ones ofADO attributes in desired ones of the spreadsheet columns (see brieflyFIG. 23) or the user may pick one of a set of pre-programmed displaytemplates for use. In the example of FIG. 6A, a pre-programmed displaytemplate has been selected where the template shows the primaryhierarchy path in the leftmost column 611, listed with longactivity/node descriptors and where the template further shows thecorresponding, long activity/node descriptor of the row's ADO in therightmost column 616. The same spreadsheet display template shows thecorresponding “Priority” state of the given row's ADO in the secondcolumn 612. For the illustrated embodiment, highest priority isindicated by three stars (***) while lowest is indicated by no star ( ).A user may double-left-click on the heading cell (“My Priority”) of thesecond column 612 and thereby instruct the spreadsheet presentationsoftware to re-sort the on-display rows according to priority (higheston top or vice versa by toggling a second time).

The same spreadsheet display template shows the corresponding “Status”state of the given row's ADO in the third column 613. For theillustrated embodiment, the letter P indicates that the underlyingactivity is still Pending, D (not shown) might indicate that theADO-defined activity is Done, and X (not shown) might indicate that theunderlying activity has been cancelled. Other letters may be used toindicate other activity status states, etc. In one embodiment, floatingthe cursor 605 over a status symbol for a predetermined timeautomatically invokes a pop-up help bubble which tells the user in longhand what the status symbol means. As is in the case of the prioritydisplay column, mouse or pointer clicking on the heading cell (“MyStatus”) of the third column 613 instructs the spreadsheet presentationsoftware to re-sort the on-display rows according to status (for examplein alphabetically ascending order or vice versa if the top cell isclicked a second time). It may be beneficial if the user-defined set ofactivity status states are mutually exclusive of each other as well asrepresentative of a complete and intuitive set of possible states, sothat respective users can each clearly decide what status state is mostapplicable for each given one of their owned ADO's and they cantherefore assign the correct activity status state to each of theirowned ADO's. (In one embodiment, users are not permitted to modify ADO'sthat are “owned” by other people. Instead they can make a copy of their“own”, possibly by a drag-and-drop operation that integrates a derivedcopy into an “embedded” portion of their machine area. Then they canmodify their “own” embedded copy. This will be explicated later below.)

The same spreadsheet display template shows the corresponding “Sharing”state of the given row's ADO in the fourth column 614. For theillustrated embodiment, the abbreviated indicator, “Dg” indicates thatresponsibility for the underlying activity has been delegated to someoneelse. The abbreviated indicator, “WS” indicates that responsibility forthe underlying activity is being co-shared (work shared) by the owner ofthe row's ADO and by one or more other users. If a cell in the fourthcolumn 614 is blank, that may mean that no sharing agreement has beenproposed or accepted. “Sent” means that an outbound Sharing proposal hasbeen transmitted out but not yet responded to. These concepts will beexplicated later below.

The same spreadsheet display template shows the corresponding “Due Date”state of the given row's ADO in the fifth column 615. If there is no duedate assigned by the ADO owner for the underlying activity, the due datecell may remain blank. As is the case with other spreadsheet columns, auser may mouse or pointer-click on the heading cell (“Due Date”) of thefifth column 615 and thereby instruct the spreadsheet presentationsoftware to re-sort the on-display rows according to due date (closestone on top or vice versa by double-clicking a second time).

As explained above, the sixth column 616 displays the long activitydescriptor for the activity defined by the given row's ADO, where theprimary hierarchy path for that same ADO is listed in column 611. In theillustrated example, Max can select any ADO line item shown and open itup with a mouse or pointer-click or another such GUI input so that themachine will provide Max with a more detailed presentation of the ADO'sattributes. For instance, there may be other, less important ADOattributes which are not immediately displayed in the spreadsheetlisting. There may be Sharing Status agreement details (contractdetails) that cannot easily be displayed in a simple spreadsheet view.There may be secondary parent hierarchies, or even relationships toother ACMAN user activities that are not displayed in the simplespreadsheet view but that may be useful to see and/or edit. See forexample FIG. 16A (further detailed below), where Max is sending to Harrya copied subset of some ADO's owned by Max, and of some owned by thecompany (e.g., by Charlie Chief) for Harry to preview and consider. Theillustrated email of FIG. 16A shows some of the additional ADOattributes 1603 and foyered parent relationships 1621–1622 that may bepresented in a display when a given line-item is opened for closerinspection. In one embodiment, an owning user (e.g., Max) can edit manyor most of the attributes of an ADO owned by that user (e.g., Max).

As just noted, the fourth column 614 shows a simple summary of thesharing status of the given ADO covered by the respective spreadsheetline item. In one embodiment, an ADO can be shared with different peopleunder at least any of the following three sharing arrangements:Delegated (Dg), WorkShared (WS), or For-Your-Information (FYI).“Delegated” indicates that the owner of the transmitted Activity DataObject is requesting that the recipient accept sole completionresponsibility for the underlying activity. If the targeted recipientreceives and accepts (acknowledges) the delegated ADO, the delegatingowner (e.g., Max) can assume that he (Max) is not going to furtherengage actively in the activity or be directly accountable forcompleting the activity. However, the delegating owner may chose tomonitor the progress of the activity by checking on status updatesreceived from time to time regarding the derived ADO which the delagateemachine automatically created when the Dg assignment was accepted.

The WorkShared (WS) arrangement similarly indicates that the owner ofthe transmitted Activity Data Object is requesting that the recipientaccept responsibility for the underlying activity. If the targetedrecipient receives and accepts (acknowledges) the Work-Shared ADO, thesharing owner (e.g., Max Manager) can assume that the recipient (e.g.,Adam Assistant) will be assisting in the development and/or deploymentof the underlying activity. Unlike Delegated work, in Work-Sharing therequestor (Max) is also expected to be engaged in the doing and/orcompleting all or some part of the underlying activity. In oneembodiment, Delegated work is limited to being accepted by only oneperson at a time so that a clear chain of accountability can bemaintained. In an alternate embodiment, if a Delegated (Dg) activitydata object may be sent to multiple people and Delegated to each ofthem, and in this case, the ACMAN system optionally stores in thesender's version of the ADO, a different member Activity status for eachreceiving member. One person may be “Done” with her delegated activity,and another person may still be actively working on his instance of themultiple-wise delegated activity. So in effect, the originally sentactivity description (ADO) may be treated as two or more separateActivity Data Objects, each with its own Activity Status. For aWorkShared ADO on the other hand, responsibility may be shared amongseveral members, for instance Max, Joe and Sally, all working toward thesame objective. If one person, Sally, completes the activity, it may beconsidered “Done” by all the participants. Optionally, even though Sallyupdated the WorkShared Activity Status as “Done”, the original creatorof the activity idea, Max, may review Sally's update information andrealize that the overall activity in fact is still not totally “Done”.So a WorkShared activity data object may have different individualparticipant statuses, but the originating author of the activity ideamay share out to all participants, one collective or overall ActivityStatus.

The third share type, “FYI” (For Your Information) is a passive sharingtype. Its purpose is to explicitly allow another person to become awareof the activity idea, and/or its activity status, and/or updates to theoriginating owner's Activity Data Object, but not to necessarily toinvite the FYI sharee member to actively participate in the underlyingactivity. In one embodiment, FYI sharing may not necessarily exclude theFYI sharee from choosing to nonetheless actively participate in theactivity. Benefits of the FYI sharing type will become more clear as itis further explained below in the context of a distributed communicationenvironment that the ACMAN system can supports. Briefly, one advantageis that FYI sharing allows people not explicitly involved in the pursuitof an objective to be made aware that other people are contemplatingthat activity idea. In one embodiment, recipients (e.g., Charlie Chief)of FYI shared activity reports can instruct their ACMAN system toautomatically filter out such FYI types of received ADO's from theirActivity Presentation area (e.g., 610 of FIG. 6 a) so that onlyactivities they are actively involved in will be presented to them.

As has been observed, there may be further details associated with thesharing status of a given ADO. In one possible example, Max may havejust sent a WS-type ADO bearing the description: “Write up cookiehandling specification with quality group”, to Harry HR, Adam, and Tom.So the Sharing Status 614 a of that spreadsheet line item may indicate“Sent” as is illustrated. Max may want to see the more details about thesharing status. To do so, in one embodiment, he holds his selectionpointer (e.g., cursor 605) over the Sharing Status cell at 614 a to seemore details, and the spreadsheet software responds by popping up aninformational bubble that provides more detailed information about forexample, who has acknowledged receipt of the transmitted request and whohas accepted the invitation to join in the development and/or deploymentof the underlying activity. In an alternate embodiment, Max may insteaddouble click his pointer on cell 614 a, or he may choose from any otherof a plurality of input means for indicating the desired command to theACMAN system to display more sharing details.

One possible example of a responsive presentation by the system to arequest for sharing details (a double-click on cell 614 a) isillustrated in FIG. 7 in screen area 710. FIG. 7 illustrates oneembodiment in which outbound sharing status details are presented. Inother words, if Max initiates an activity idea and transmits hisexpression of that owned activity description to Adam, then for Max, hisowned ADO has been outbound shared to Adam. Adam's ACMAN system mayreceive the derived ADO copy, and Adam's ACMAN system may record afoyered and derived copy of the received ADO, as well as optionally anembedded derived copy that is owned by Adam. But unless Adam furthershares the activity description to a third user, Adam's ADO copy(ies)might indicate an inbound sharing status but no specific outboundsharing information. This inbound sharing status may or may not includedetails about who else Max shared the activity description with, or thesharing status of those other possible participants. FIG. 7 does notnecessarily illustrate an embodiment inbound sharing details. Thecircles and boxes as illustrated at 703 and 704 show an embodiment ofunderlying methods and highlight and/or describe how certain areas inthe diagram may operate. Not all parts of FIG. 7 may be displayed. Inone embodiment, only solid material inside boxed region 700 appears inthe pop-up window. In another embodiment, help boxes as in 703, 704which include the smaller circle chains leading up to these boxes, mightalso be displayed, either automatically or for instance when a user'smouse or pointer rests above a specific area of the presentation. Thesehelp boxes might help the user understand the meaning and purpose of thevarious presented information.

The box provided in FIG. 7. region 703 of the illustrated example showsthat Max's ADO's Sharing Status summary presentation might have one offive possible summary states. At first, the Activity Sharing Statusmight have the value: “Not Shared” if the corresponding ADO has not beensent out as a shared activity data object. Later the state may change to“Sent” if the corresponding ADO has been sent out to others, but noacknowledgement has yet been received. Yet later, the Activity SharingStatus might take on one of the values: WS, Dg, or FYI (WorkShared,Delegated, or For-Your-Information) depending on what request was sentout and how the recipient(s) responded. In one possible example, Max mayhave just sent an ADO copy, “Write up cookie handling specification withquality group”, to Harry HR, Adam, and Tom. So the Sharing Statuspresentation 614 a might indicate “Sent”. Note that if a sharingagreement offer for the activity data object has not yet been acceptedby anyone else, it may not yet be considered to be WorkShared, FYI, oreven Delegated. It might only be shown as “Sent”. In the detail view ofShare Status 703 a, the same simple, or summary, “Sent” Sharing Statusis also presented. The details can also be shown in area 702. Area 702 amay indicate who the Activity Data Object has been explicitly shared toby Max (where Max's machine is the source of the shared activity dataobject transmission). Area 702 b (Sent Share Type) may indicate whattype of sharing agreement was proposed for each participant. Forinstance, Max may have sent this activity description “To” Harry HR andAdam to be WorkShared, but he only sent it “cc” Tom as an FYI. Maybe Tomhad been waiting for this activity to get started, so Max just wanted tolet him know about the new WorkShared status of the activity. Lastly inFIG. 7, the acknowledged sharing status per each member on theparticipants list 702 a is shown at 702 c. Flowchart 704 shows apossible sequence for participant member states. The first and initialstate is “NULL”-Max may have already expressed (created) the ActivityData Object which he intends to share, but he has not yet sent it. Next,if Max has “sent” out the Activity Data Object with the proposed sharetype that was sent being Dg or WS (Delegated or WorkShared,respectively), Max may be “Waiting” for a returned acceptance from Harryand Adam. In the case of Tom who is an FYI sharee, Max has Sent thesharing request but Max is “Not Expecting” a response. (Although maybenot likely, it is possible in one embodiment that Tom might still chooseto get involved in the activity in some unforeseen way, so it is alsopossible that Tom could at some point, drag a copy of the sent ADO intohis owned (embedded) activity list, then Tom and/or his machine may sendan update back to Max indicating that Tom has accepted activeparticipation in the task.) Next, any of the receiving memberparticipants can respond to the activity sharing request by transmittinga recipient's status update such as “Undecided” if they have read therequest but have still not decided. Each given recipient mayalternatively accept the request and re-designate it as “Active”, or therecipient may “Deny” or reject participation in the activity. Ifinitially “Undecided”, participants may later choose to “Deny” or“Accept” the sharing request. If the participant chooses to “Accept”participation in the sharing request, then the invited participant'sactual ADO status (Active, Pending, Done, etc.), rather than just thesharing response status, may optionally be displayed back to theoriginator in the acknowledged Member ShareStatus area 702 c.

As should be apparent from the above, systems in accordance with oneembodiment of the disclosure may support hierarchical categorization ofActivity Data Objects by use of one or more relationship structures(e.g., primary parent/child and secondary parent/child relationships).As mentioned, Secondary Parents and Secondary Children are possibleenhancements to a basic tree structure. Just to better illustrate someof the terminology used herein, FIG. 8 shows a screen shot 800 whereiconic representations of various Activity Data Objects are displayed ingraphical form, for example drawn hierarchical tree with icons, in anActivities Pane 810. It can be seen that under the category, “All MyActivities”\“Work”\-“Cookie Products”, Max has defined a subtask 872 bwhich he chose to call “Free Samples”. For the tree structure shown inFIG. 8, subtask 872 b is an End Node in the tree. Subtask 872 b is alsoa primary child of the “Cookie Products” node 873. The “Cookie Products”icon 873 is in turn displayed as being a primary child of Max's “Work”node 874. The latter node 874 is in turn displayed as being a primarychild of Max's top-most node 875. This top-most node can be the RootNode of Max's embedded ADO tree. In one embodiment, if Max wishes, hecan insert a new, top-most node above node 875. In the state shown, node875 is the primary parent of nodes 874 and 878.

Referring again to FIG. 6A, a journal data items displaying pane 620 ispresented below the activity objects displaying pane 610. Logical linksmay have been already established within Max's machine between some ormuch of the content within the Journal pane 620 and various ADO's in thestructured Activities pane 610. Spreadsheet line items in Activitiespane 610 may be used to call out (e.g., select and/or display) certainjournal data items expressions in Journal pane 620 or vice versa. It isbriefly explained now how the Journal pane may be structured, although amore thorough description will follow below.

Assume that in FIG. 6A, the user (e.g., Max) has just single-clicked hiscursor 605 on the spreadsheet line item for “Investigate mortgagebrokers” 623. In the given embodiment, such a single-click selects thecorresponding ADO (not directly shown) and all its on-display children.Therefore, in the illustrated example, child line “Collect papers fromPaul and SafeCo” is automatically selected as well. The Journal pane 620automatically responds by displaying journal items that are logicallylinked to the line items selected in the Activities pane 610. To betterunderstand how this works, consider briefly FIG. 6B which shows aslightly different presentation mode. The Journal pane 620′ of FIG. 6Bis in Standard Journal Mode instead of in Selection-Filtered JournalMode. Standard Journal Mode shows all journal items, typically inchronologically backwards order according to when the respective journaldata item was captured into the user's journal space. In StandardJournal Mode, Max can enter any Journal Data Items into the journal in acompletely carefree and unstructured manner, and the ACMAN system maypresent the JDIs in the order that they may have been entered in by Max.Note that in this mode all of a user's non-archived Journal Data Itemsmight be presented. In one embodiment, the ACMAN system automaticallytimestamps each entry with a date and/or time so that a chronologicallysorted presentation of such entries can be displayed and browsedthrough. In one embodiment, journal entries may be displayed as beinggrouped into daily-entry segments, as is done in column 621′ of FIG. 6B.Alternatively, weekly or hourly, or other segment options could be used.In this example, Max can view all of his journaled data items ascaptured over the last few days, and if desired, he can scroll or searchdown to a specific date. In FIG. 6B, logical links (if any) between thedisplayed journal items and displayed activity objects are in invisiblemode. FIG. 6C shows what happens if a one or more of such logical linksare switched into visible mode. Displayed connection lines 635 indicateon the presentation screen 601″ various associations that Max createdbetween one or more of Max's activities and a given one or more journaldata items. The data structures which support such cross-pane connectionlines 635 can be referred to as “extra-journal links” because in oneembodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 6C, they logically extend out of theJournal pane 620″ and into another display area (e.g., pane 610″), orvice versa. The illustrated connection lines 635 might be toggled todisplay or not to display, in different or same colors, and/ormomentarily (flashing or one-shot) or persistently as may be selected bythe user. FIGS. 6A and 6B show them as being off altogether. In theexample of FIG. 6C, a first extra-journal link 635 a is shown extendingbetween the first journal data item of Jun. 11, 2003 and Max's activitydata object of “Get wife birthday present”. This extra-journal link 635a may have been created by Max in any of a number of ways. For example,it may have been created with a mouse drag operation where the drageither started from the journal area 620″ and continued up to thedesired associated activity data object (“Get wife birthday present”) orthe drag started in the activity pane area 610″ at the desired activitydata object (“Get wife birthday present . . . ”) and continued down tothe journal data item (“Rick's Jewelers . . . ”) at which point Maxreleased the mouse button to thereby end the drag operation. (Some otherways of creating the extra-journal link are briefly illustrated in 2651of FIG. 26.) Max may use various tools to hide or show or create thedifferent logical linkages between spreadsheet lines of journal areas oricons that respectively represent the different activity nodes andjournal data items. The linkage symbols such as shown at 635 might havedifferent colors or iconic shapes and so forth to distinguish them fromone another and may be activated or deactivated as if they exist indifferent levels. Multiple extra-journal link associations can be madeon a one to many and/or many to one basis between the journal data itemsand the activity data objects. (This may also include a many to manycapability, not shown, but for instance wherein these extra-journallinks might be created: ADO-1 with JDI-1 and with JDI-2; ADO-2 withJDI-2; etc.) For instance, Max may have caused the spreadsheet lineitem: “ . . . \Home\Refinance house\Investigate mortgage brokers” 623″to be coupled to the first journal data item representation of June 12635 c as well as to the first journal data item representation of June10 635 d. Conversely, the second journal data item on June 11 635 b isshown to have been logically linked to 3 different activities of theupper pane 610′″. Those 3 activities might have seemed completelyunrelated previously, but later Max realized there was some relationshipbetween all of these activities and he created a set of logical links toremind himself of that at yet a later date. Max's ability to createlinkages between random journal data items and arbitrarily selectedactivity descriptions provides Max with a powerful tool for findingjournal data items that Max has previously deemed as being related toactivity data objects or vice versa. In other words, as Max is reviewingone of these, he calls up its counterpart for simultaneous display.Depending on what is being displayed at a given time, Max can conjure upand record all sorts of unique logical linkages between any two or moreof a displayed set of journal items and/or formalized activitydescriptions.

Although the illustrated examples show visible connection lines (e.g.,635) as the means for visually indicating logical linkage, it is withinthe contemplation of the disclosure to additionally or alternatively useother methods including the color-coding of counterpart activity objectsand journal items. By way of example, if a first ADO is logically linkedto a counterpart first JDI (e.g., as represented by line 635 a in FIG.6C), the presentation software can assign a first of different,highlighting colors to that first set of counterpart ADO and JDIexpression, say yellow. Then, if a second set of one or more ADO's islogically linked to a counterpart second set of one or more JDI's, thepresentation software can assign a second one of the differenthighlighting colors (say green, and say on a round-robin assignmentbasis) to that second group of counterpart ADO's and JDI's. Thepresentation software may then shade the displayed expressions of thecounterpart ADO's and JDI's with their respective, linkage-indicatingcolors (e.g., yellow highlighting for the first group and greenhighlighting for the second group). A user may then quickly perceive thelogical linkage between members of the first and second groups. This canbe done without obstructive, cross-over lines. If a given object or itembelongs to several groups, its display region may be filledproportionally with the colorations of the several groups. Coloration isjust one example of a visual marking system. All sorts of other visualmarking systems may be used, including but not limited to: texturing,bolding, change of text font, change of background/foreground colorcombinations, common reference numbering, etc. To explain the commonreference numbering further, the presentation software might assignreference numbers or other symbolic reference indicators, unique amongeach of the on-display ADOs, respectively to each of the ADOs that arelogically linked to one or more JDIs. The presentation software couldthen present the respective reference indicators alongside or near eachpresented ADO as well as alongside or near each extra-journal linked andpresented JDI. A user may then quickly perceive the logical linkagebetween members of the first and second groups.

Returning to FIG. 6A and contrasting its presentation to that of FIG. 6Band FIG. 6C, one can see that FIG. 6A displays the Journal Pane in aSelection-Filtered Journal Mode instead of in an unfiltered, or StandardJournal Mode. Max may have selected specific ADOs that he might beinterested in. The selection may have been carried out by using a mouseand/or another input device (e.g., keyboard) to invoke the selection ofone or more activity descriptions (ADO's). The selection action may haveidentified a parent ADO and the ACMAN system may have been in a modewhere selection of the parent ADO also implicitly instructs the systemto select all primary (and optionally secondary) child ADO's of theselected parent ADO, and/or all further, primary (and optionallysecondary) progeny of the selected parent ADO. The selection action mayhave been carried out in conjunction with an expressed selectioninstruction that causes the ACMAN system to select all ADOs that meetcertain text, string or value search criteria in certain, specified ADOattribute fields. Only some of the JDIs in the journal storage areamight have logical links to the selected ADOs. The presentation softwaremay then respond by selecting only the logically linked JDIs in thejournal pane so that they can be further manipulated (e.g., presented bythemselves as in FIG. 6D and FIG. 6A, or copied as a collective groupfor attachment to a further data structure). Additionally oralternatively, Max may have provided his ACMAN system with certain text,string, or value search criteria by which to automatically further oralternatively select matching JDIs in the journal storage area. In oneembodiment, while the system is in Selection-Filtered Journal Mode,Max's ACMAN system will present only the JDIs that are logically linkedto selected Activity Data Objects whose expressions are currentlyon-display in the Activity Pane. (On-display does not necessarily meancurrently showing. Each pane can have a scroll mechanism e.g., 622 awherein only a subset of the on-display results actually appears and theremainder show up in response to a scrolling action.) In an alternativeembodiment, when in the system is in Selection-Filtered Journal Mode,the ACMAN system might only present the Journal Data Items that wererecently selected by means of logical linkage with ADO's or in otherways. Such filtering of the Journal presentation can remove clutter andallow Max to quickly see all journaled data items that are associated insome particular way with a given one or more Activity Data Objects.

The shading in FIG. 6A on the spreadsheet line item “ . . .\Home\Refinance house” indicates that Max has selected this ActivityData Object Node. He may do this by clicking or double clicking hismouse while a display pointer (cursor) is pointing to this node. Or hemight type in the pathname of that node to make such a selection.Additionally in this example, Max is using an optional capability of theACMAN system that automatically selects all Child Activity Data Objects.(Primary or primary and secondary children might be automaticallyselected). Thus in column 616 it can be seen that two underlyingActivity Data Objects might have been automatically selected as a resultof his selecting just one parent Activity Data Object, or node.Comparing FIG. 6D with FIG. 6A, it may be seen that in FIG. 6D, Max hastoggled visibility to “on” for showing the extra-journal links 631between his selected Activity Data Objects and their associated JournalData Items. Thus, in a Selection-Filtered Journal Mode, only thejournaled items that match ADO and/or other selection criteria(including optionally only those which have been time-stamped within apre-specified date range of the journal) might be presented.

In this immediate example, Max manually selected an Activity Data Objectexpression that happened to be already displayed in the Activities Pane.However, the system may provide Max with a wide variety of tools forlocating various activity nodes and sorting the results. In oneembodiment, as shown in FIG. 6A, Max may move pointer 605 and click iton the heading for Parent Activities to re-sort the rows alphabeticallyaccording to parent activity path names. Alternatively, Max might clickpointer 605 on the priority heading of column 612 to re-sort the rowsaccording to priority with most important priority on top, or next onthe bottom, by toggling the order with alternating mouse clicks. Max mayalternatively sort according to status by clicking on the heading ofcolumn 613 or on the basis of work-sharing agreement by clicking on theheading of column 614. Similarly, Max may find the activities which havethe soonest due dates by clicking on the heading of column 612.Additionally, Max may sort alphabetically by long activity descriptor byclicking on the heading of column 616. Max may then select a subset ofthe so-sorted spreadsheet line items and then cause the machine toautomatically call up the logically linked journal items of the selectedADO's.

The search engine capabilities of the system (examples indicated in FIG.6A) may also allow Max to search and/or select (617) Activity DataObjects matching various comparative criteria conditions including textstring (with or without wild card) matching, fuzzy logic matchingalgorithms, rich media matching, etc. Such searching might utilize alogical query condition in order to select and/or then selection-filterthe Activity Pane and/or the corresponding Journal Pane with the resultsof that search, and to sort the Activity Data Objects in a certainorder. There may be many possible variants of these selection and/orfiltering capabilities. For instance, such searching may be set toselect query matching activity descriptions, yet present both theselected and the not-selected activity descriptions in the on-displayarea 610. The searching may instead be set to select query matchingactivity descriptions and only present in the on-display area thoseresulting selected activity descriptions. Additionally, the journalcould be set (see briefly FIG. 22, 2224) to indicate logical links 635to the JDI expressions that are extra-journal linked to the now selectedactivity descriptions and/or hide those JDI expressions 620′″ that arenot extra-journal linked to the now selected activity descriptions,using the Selection-Filtered Journal Mode option 627′″.

The “Meta-Search” capability 617 also may allow Max to perform Booleansum of product searches and/or selection-filters of his activities. Forinstance, Max may use button 617 to open a search and sort options toolmenu. With this tool menu, he might choose to find Activity Data Objectsmeeting the following Boolean condition set for example: Select allADO's (having a Priority attribute setting of “Highest”) OR (having adue date within the next 2 days AND that are primary child activities of“My Activities\Work”). Alternatively, Max might simply search for ADOswhose (short and/or long) activity descriptor fields, or attributes,include the text “staff”. Additionally or alternatively, Max might useany of a number of search criteria in combination, including those thatuse wildcards. Max may choose to search and selection-wise highlightonly the Activity Data Objects expressions that meet these criteria, orhe may choose to search and selection-filter the Activity display paneto show only the ADO expressions that meet these criteria. If he choosesthe activity selection-filter option, he may wish to sort and/or groupthe displayed Activity Data Objects in some fashion. For instance, hemay wish to sort by due date first and then secondarily by priority indescending order. All of these options can be useful to Max Manager,since he may have a great number of activities of varying importance orurgency. Max may find that this particular meta-filter and sort criteriais one that he will want to use possibly every day to help himprioritize his activities each morning when he gets in to the office. Sohe may save a criteria definition originally created under the firstbutton 617 as a frequently used search criteria that can be called up byactivation of second button 618. He might give this earlier-definedsearch a name, to make it easy to remember, for example, “Today'sPriorities”. This name can appear as the top of an expandable menu thatrolls out from second button 618. He may have other saved meta-searchcriteria displayed on top for other searches that he often uses; forinstance “Top Pending Items” 618 a, or his pet projects “Beef orCookies” 618 b. Finally, Max may run a certain meta-search, which mightresult in a certain display. After that, he can then clear 618 c allmeta-search or selection-filter settings currently in effect to therebyre-display all of his activities. He might also click on a “Go Back”arrow 618 d to go back to a previous view state. Later, he might use a“Go Forward” button above that to go forward to a view state that he hadgone back from (similar to a web browser's forward and back buttons). Ofcourse, aside form all these more powerful search and sort tools, thepresentation software provides the user with more mundane capabilities,including for example, dragging a spreadsheet's row data to any desirednew row within the spreadsheet, or performing a positional change withrow-cut and row-paste options, or popping a selected one or more rows upto the top of the spreadsheet list, or pushing a selected one or morerows down to the bottom of the spreadsheet list (thereby implementing amanual bubble sort if desired). Also, the user can copy anyspreadsheet's row data to any desired new row and thereby create a newactivity node. (The presentation software might create a new underlyingADO and prompt the user to provide appropriate input for identifying thehierarchy path of that new ADO.) Also, the user can copy data from anyspreadsheet cell and paste it to a corresponding other cell in thespreadsheet if permission exists for modifying the destination cell'scontents. Therefore, the spreadsheet presentation format provides theuser with powerful, yet easy ways of modifying the contents of formalactivity description objects (ADO's) and/or of controlling the way thecorresponding ADO attributes are presented back to the user insearch-filtered or unfiltered modes.

Often the result of a database search or query is larger than can fitwithin the finite area of the activities pane 610 and/or of thejournaled items pane 620. Accordingly, a scrolling mechanism such as 610a–610 b may be used for scrolling through the, theoretically on-displayresults, moving the viewing scope up and down or sideways within thecorresponding pane (e.g., 610). Intra-column scrolling may also beenabled as is indicated by scroll bar 611 a which might scroll thematerial inside of nodal hierarchy path column 611. If the activitiespane 610 is programmed to present a representation of the long activitydescriptor fields of the corresponding activity nodes, that column toomay have an intra-column scrolling means (not shown).

As seen from FIG. 6A, the journal data items displayed in pane 620 arechronologically ordered with the more recently journaled items being ontop. Max might click on a heading for column 621 (a time stamp column)to flip the ordering the other way. (Additionally or alternatively, Maxmight use row dragging and/or cut & paste operations to reorganize theway in which the journaled items are presented to him. The presentationsoftware can remember the last relative positions of displayed items andre-present them in the same way as before if desired.) In theillustrated example, display column 622 provides a text view of thejournal data items. Scroll bar mechanism 622 a may be used for scrollingitems up and down in the journal data items pane 620 as appropriate.

Max does not have to be limited to viewing his formalized activitydescriptions in spreadsheet format. FIG. 8 shows alternate display modesfor each of the Activities pane and the Journal pane. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 8, the user (Max) has elected to show his Activity DataObjects in a graphical tree format. He has also elected to show hisjournal data items in a sticky note format. As is the case with thespreadsheet-like displayed, activity descriptions and journaled items ofFIG. 6A, the presentation software can remember the last relativepositions of displayed graphical items in FIG. 8 and re-present them inthe same way as before if desired. Thus journal items and/or iconicallyrepresented activity nodes can have a sticky-note characteristic ofremaining in the relative positions where they were last left by theuser. (The presentation software also provides auto-rearrange options sothat the user can clean up a messy desktop and reposition the itemsaccording to date, hierarchy path or other attributes.) Although FIG. 6Ashowed the activity pane in spreadsheet format with the journal pane inchronological format, and FIG. 8 shows the activity pane in graphicalformat and the journal pane in sticky note format, the two respectiveactivity pane formats and the two respective journal pane formats can bemixed and matched. For instance, the activity pane could be presented ingraphical mode while the journal pane is presented in chronologicalformat.

One advantage in using a graphical tree format (e.g., FIG. 8) is that ifhierarchical relationships are included in the system, Max can easilysee his activities and their hierarchical relationships, and he caneasily rearrange their position in the hierarchy with drag and dropoperations or the like. (When dragging a parent node, all its childrenand their progeny may optionally be displayed as moving also.Additionally, the user may elect to hide items that are below or above acertain hierarchical level in the displayed tree.) Thegraphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert newactivities into the graphically presented tree in visually cuedlocations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/childactivity data object relationships as desired. In order to make thegraphical tree structure more viewable, each Activity Data Object maycontain an optional Short Activity Descriptor Field (see briefly FIG.12A, item 1234), also referred to here as a Short Name (or Simple Name,or Abbreviated Name) attribute, which in one mode, is displayed in ornear the respective graphical icon that represents the respectiveactivity node. The Short Activity Descriptor field might be provided inaddition to a Long Activity Descriptor field (see briefly 1233), wherethe latter might be displayed continuously or only when the user dwellshis cursor over the corresponding graphical icon.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 8, Max has realized that one of thejournal data item expressions (a sticky note which provides a list oflocal banks) 823 should be logically linked not only to his homerefinance project 871 b but also to his project for distributing freesamples 872 b of the new cookie product in local commercialestablishments. (He can distribute the free samples at those banks.) Thegraphical display modes of the activities pane and the journaled itemspane allow Max to easily record the new mental association he just madeby correspondingly creating visible linkages between the subjectjournaled item (a list of local banks) 823 the respective graphicalicons that represent the home refinance project 871 b and the freesamples project 872 b. In one embodiment, Max can do so by clicking onthe subject journaled item 823 and dragging from that journal data itemexpression to each of the corresponding graphical nodes, 871 b and 872b. Alternatively, Max can do so by selecting the journal data itemexpression and thereafter using the application command-entry menu (notshown) to type in the node name or node and path name of the node towhich a logical link is to be established. Max might alternatively havea list of identifications for respective ADO's stored in his systemclipboard and he may paste those into the application command-entry menuso as to create the desired, logical linkages. The list of ADOidentifications may have been created by one of the selection operationsdescribed herein for FIGS. 6A–6D plus a copy-to-clipboard userinstruction.

In further working with the presentation 800 of FIG. 8, Max may realizethat his Golf activity 877 should be secondarily associated with hisWork activity 874. Max can use a line-drawing drag operation or anotheroperation for creating the secondary association between the Golf iconand the Work icon. Since Golf is already a primary child of “Friends”,his system might automatically infer that Golf is a secondary child ofWork, or give Max the option to switch the parent/child relationships tomake Golf a primary child activity to Work instead and a secondary childto “Friends”.

A number of display-control and element modifying buttons are shown tothe right of panes 810 and 820. In one embodiment, the user canprogrammably change which tool buttons are shown immediately to theright of work panes 810 and 820, versus which are docked away elsewhere,possibly in the user menu command structures illustrated in FIG. 22,FIG. 26, and FIG. 27. In the illustrated example, tool button 850 mightallow the user to cause his ACMAN system to select and/or filter theon-display activity descriptions shown in 810, similar to thecapabilities explained in FIG. 6A 617. Tool button 851 might allow theuser to cause his system to switch the activities pane to spreadsheetformat. Tool button 852 might allow the user to cause his system toselectively hide (or on alternative pointer clicks, unhide) child nodesbelow a certain level or below an icon the user may select. Tool button853 might allow the user to cause his system to selectively display (oron alternative pointer clicks, show) secondary child nodes below acertain level or below an icon the user may select. Tool button 855might allow the user to cause his system to selection-filter the journalaccording to a set of query conditions indicated by the user. Toolbutton 856 might allow the user to cause his system to toggle thejournal pane presentation to a selection-filter chronological, insteadof sticky note, format. Note that a sticky note journal presentationformat for the journal pane 820 is an optional embodiment. Other journalpresentation formats, such as in 620 (FIG. 6A) are possible and in oneembodiment, a sticky note format may not be provided to a system user.Tool button 857 might allow the user to cause his system toselection-filter the activities pane icons to present only theexpressions of ADOs that are extra-journal linked to user selected JDIexpressions. Alternatively, the tool could cause the system toselection-filter the activities pane to display the expressions of ADOsthat are extra-journal linked to any of a group made of a plurality ofJDIs. Tool button 858 might provide the user with a convenient way tocause his system to zoom in or zoom out the magnification size of thepresentation.

FIG. 9A schematically illustrates a journal presentation interface 900that may be used for entering, editing or reviewing journal data itemsin accordance with the present disclosure. The Activities Pane might beselectively shown or hidden away from the user, and in thisillustration, it is not presented in display area 999. A command bar 910may be visually presented at the top or elsewhere, nearby to a journalviewing pane 901. The viewing pane 901 may include one or more scrollbars such as shown at 929 for scrolling through a found set ofalready-journaled data items. Often the size of the found set is largerthan that which can be easily displayed in the viewing pane 901 under acurrent zoom setting. The viewing pane 901 may further include a titlebar 920 such as the one shown in FIG. 9A. The illustrated example 920indicates that the items presented below it constitute part of Max'spersonal journal (which is owned by Max) of collected and recordedinformation. The presentation might be filtered by a particular searchkeyword. In the illustrated example, scrollable-revisable box 920 aindicates that the illustrated items relate to anything (to “ALL”). Thisbox 920 a could instead be indicated to display only journaled itemsthat are logically linked with specific Activity Data Objects, orspecific ADOs and child ADOs that are part of the drop down list of thescrollable-revisable box 920 a. Alternatively, Max can type in 920 a asearch string like “Maxene”, and then only journaled items containingthat search string might be displayed. Note that the “Activity DataObject Meta-Search, Filter, and Sort” function described in FIG. 6A(617) may be used in addition to this simple journal selection-filter920 a. For instance, if a Meta-Search option 617 (in FIG. 6A) is usedbut the journal is in Standard Journal Mode 920 b, only the Activitiesin the Activities Pane might be selection-filtered. Journalselection-filter 920 a could be used to implicitly select and presentjust the Journal Pane JDIs expressions using the separate criteria in920 a. Alternatively, if the Journal is in Selection-Filtered JournalMode 920 b, then the scrollable-revisable box 920 a criteria might be‘AND’ed with the Meta-Search filter, so that the Journal presentationmight display a further subset of Journal Data Item expressions.

The journal data items under the heading bar 920 may be displayedaccording to Max's preferences. Here, Max has chosen to display hisjournal data items as if they were scraps of sticky note paper attachedto the scrollable background. Each sticky scrap note may be positionedon the background according to Max's preferences and later moved aboutto a new location as desired. In an alternative display mode, journaldata items may be displayed in a chronologically ordered table formatwith date and time of entry noted to the left or the right. That wasshown in FIG. 6A for example. The already-recorded journal data items(JDI's) could come from a variety of sources and appear as differentdata types. Journal data item 921, for example, illustrates a shortpiece of text which Max typed directly into the computer using a notepador other quick entry program. Its data “type” may therefore be dot-text(e.g., it could have a .txt extension at the end of its respectivefilename if it is stored as a separate file). In scrap note 921 Max mayhave noted to himself that his friend Charlie suggested he contact AnitaRand about yesterday's conversation at the golf game. If the sticky note921 was filled in and dragged from elsewhere into pane 901, the journalentry software can automatically attach a time stamp 926 to it at thetime it is recorded into Max's journal space. This automatic time stamp926 may be constantly displayed and/or it may be displayed at the user'srequest or when, for example, the user lets the cursor 902 dwell for apredefined amount of time on top of the scrap item 921. The automatictime stamping allows the user (e.g., Max) to later sort and review hisentries by time of entry into his journal. He may additionally oralternatively filter and/or sort by data type (e.g., .txt, .bmp, .wav,.html, etc.) and/or by content found inside the respective journal dataitems.

The data types of entered journal data items need not be limited to meretext. In one embodiment, even a given JDI may contain more than one datatype. Example 922 shows such a sticky note expression of a JDI thatincludes both text and a user activated hyperlink to a URL, such as to aweb site on the Internet. If the user moves the cursor 902 to thehyperlink text and single or double clicks on it, that can automaticallylaunch a browser view of the referenced URL (for example, either in aseparate browser window, or in the same journal presentation with thehelp of a Dynamic-Link Library viewer). Thus, entered journal data itemssuch as 922 can provide a convenient way of bookmarking to Internetlocations which the user had previously found and had made notes aboutand entered those notes into his journal. The notes can be moreextensive than that shown at 922 or they can be more terse. Example 924is another hyperlink to a URL; and in this case, it displays as a mereicon that might take the user to a Web Forum page 991 when clicked onand allow the user to begin participating in a corresponding web chatsession. The user may later copy some of the chat results into hisjournal, at which point they will be time-stamped with the time ofpasting. (See auto-time-stamp 926 as an example.)

Scrap item 923 shows an example of an interplay between work and familyrelated activities. Max's wife had sent him an email reminder that heneeds to go home early to see their daughter's school play. Max copiedof portion of the text of this reminder to journal data item 923 and themodified or new journal item got auto-time-stamped. He then copied tohis computer's clip board a dynamic link to the actual email itself sothat he can quickly view the email or reply to it later if he needs.This might have been done by dragging the email-showing, applicationwindow into the journal area of ACMAN, or by executing a Paste Specialcommand while the pointer or mouse was in the journal area, andselecting an option to paste a dynamic link, or shortcut, to the sourceof the clipboard object. The journal data item might then contain anddisplay a pointer (“View email”) to the index location of that emailwithin Max's email application, as well as an indication of theapplication program associated with that pointer. Thus if Max clicks onthe “View email” pointer displayed in journal data item 923, his emailapplication might automatically become activated (if it is not alreadyrunning) and the specific email message might then be automaticallyopened for Max to see, for example adjacent to his journaled item 923.

As mentioned earlier in the description of FIG. 6C, Max can createso-called extra-journal links (see 928 a, or alternatively 635 a of FIG.6C) between a given, journaled scrap item like 925 a and one or moreActivity Data Object expressions that reside outside the journal pane.The created extra-journal link indicates a logical association betweenthe journaled data item and the extra-journal object (e.g., ADO). Maxcan choose to display the Activities Pane in spreadsheet format or ingraphical tree format and to have activity descriptions that arelogically linked to a given journal item show up in filtered mode.Extra-journal links may be created in a variety of ways, including byclicking on a specific Activity Data Object shown in the ActivitiesPane, shifted-clicking on a Journal Data Item shown in the Journal Pane(so both the JDI and ADO are simultaneously selected) and thenactivating the “link” tool under unfurled menu 916. Another way that anassociation link might be created is by dragging the cursor to define apath between Journal Data Item expression 925 a and the target object(e.g., an Activity Data Object expression), where the latter is locatedelsewhere on the screen (see briefly FIG. 6C). At a later time, after hecreated the logical link, Max can locate the associated objects (e.g.,ADO's) of a given journal item by using the extra-journal link(s) tocall up (select and/or display) the associated objects. By way ofexample, Max can select one or more Journal Data Items and then choose acommand menu item to display only the Activity Data Objects that arelogically linked with the Journal Data Item(s) he has selected.

Max may also create intra-journal groups such as represented byintra-journal link 927. He might do this by selecting a first JournalData Item, selecting the Link tool of drop-down menu 916, and thenselecting another Journal Data Item to group the first one with.Alternatively, Max might select two Journal Data Items and then selectthe Link tool of drop-down menu 916. Such an intra-journal grouping canbe useful in cases, for example, where Max may have several ideas in hisjournal that he is just thinking about, but that he may or may not haveyet associated some or all of them with respective ones of all theActivity Data Objects in his activities tree. The intra-journal groupingcapability gives Max the flexibility to jot down disparate ideas indifferent areas in his journal like 922 and 923 yet recall relatedjournal data items later on, long after he may have forgotten some ofthem or their associations with one another. By way of example, supposethat Max had not yet associated (928 b) any Activity Data Object withthe illustrated JDI reminder about his daughter's school play 923. Hemight search his journal for JDI expressions containing the text string“school”, and find JDI expression 923. Then by using a possible ACMANmenu command to show grouped JDI expressions (i.e. hide all thenon-grouped journal data items), he could locate the interesting article922 he had earlier found and that he wanted to print and give to hisdaughter Mary, but then he forgot about it. In another similar example,if Max had already created the extra-journal link 928 b to some ActivityData Object expression, “X” (not shown), he could just selection-filterthe Journal Pane to show the JDI expressions associated with ActivityData Object expression X. By enabling the optional display of JDI's thatare intra-journal-wise grouped to the primary JDI's called-up by theselection-filtered journal presentation, he would see JDI expression 923(“Mary's school play . . . ”) and also find in the same journalpresentation, the intra-journal-wise linked JDI expression 922 (“ . . .interesting article . . . ”)

Scrap item 925 a provides an example of how different parts (e.g., JDIexpression area linked to 928 d) or the whole (925 a) of a journaleditem can be linked to different objects (e.g., extra-journal ADO's). Theoverall journal data item 925 a (“Idea: Make Flow Chart for . . . ”)relates to a product launch Max is working on. Max has created a firstextra-journal link 928 a to an activity data object (not shown) whichrelate to this overall product launch entry 925 a. However, Max has alsorecognized that a selected subportion 925 b of the overall journal dataitem expression 925 a might be associated with yet a different activitydata object. In response, Max has selected that subportion 925 b and hehas caused his machine to create a separate link 928 d to that otheractivity data object (not shown). The other object at the not-shownother end of link 928 d might be a dummy object or a mostly-blank,space-holding ADO. From the formed links (928 a, 928 d), it may bededuced that Max has reviewed the whole of the given journal data item925 a, and upon reflection, Max has recognized that there may bedifferent associations between the whole or parts of this journal dataitem and various structured activity data objects which may have alreadybeen created or need to be created or filled in (dummy objects) sometimein the future. A separate set of tools (for instance, see briefly FIG.27 2717) near the activities pane (see briefly 610 of FIG. 6A) mightallow Max to create new activity nodes and possibly place them asdesired (see briefly FIG. 27 2720) within his activity hierarchy, ifany.

As has already been seen, tools (916) within the journal command bar 910might let Max create extra-journal links such as 928 d either fromsmall, lasso encircled, highlighted, or otherwise selected portions 925b of given journal data items to the outside objects (e.g., ADO's), orbetween the wholes of a selected one or more journal data items and acorrespondingly selected one or more activity data objects. Max may alsocreate various intra-journal groupings 927 between two or more journaldata items.

Inserting a copied portion of an email message and/or a hyperlinkpointer to an email message into the journal, such as is exemplified byjournal data item 923, is but one of many ways that data might berecorded or referenced (directly or indirectly) by way of journaleditems collected in the user's journal pane 920. The user can copy andpaste the whole of an email message into pane area 920. Alternatively oradditionally, the user may establish an easy-to-remember hot-keycombination by way of which depression of a special keyboard sequenceand/or combination (e.g., Control-Shift J for “Journalizing” selecteddata) and/or a specially reserved mouse click action and/or other suchuser input, causes the user's machine to automatically record selecteddata into his/her journal space and to time stamp the data to indicateits time and/or date of recordation. If the user (e.g., Max) is visitinga web page and he actuates the hot-key pattern, then the URL of the pagecan automatically be inserted into his journal. This may have been theway that the URL pointer item illustrated at 924 was inserted.Alternatively the user could have used a clipboard copy-and-pasteoperation or a like alternative for moving or copying data into hisjournal space. The intent is to make journalizing of data as easy aspossible so that the user is encouraged to journalize much of the datathat he/she creates or copies on a frequent basis rather than to bediscouraged from keeping a free-running journal due to some cumbersomeand/or distracting set of operations required by less user-friendlysoftware.

There should be virtually no restriction on the kinds of data that theuser can record into his/her journal space. Aside from plain text (.txt)or rich text format (.rtf) and hyperlinking reference data (e.g.,http://www . . . com), all sorts of data in many othercomputer-recognized formats should be easily insertable into the user'sjournal, even if it does not originate in machine-acceptable form. Forexample, a microphone 931 may be used to make digitized real-time voicenotes and to record those into the user's journal area as actual voicesignals, for example, in a .wav or other sound data type recording file.In one embodiment, anytime the user activates a wired or wirelessmicrophone that is operatively coupled (931 a) to his computer (FIG. 1,110); the correspondingly digitized signals are automatically storedwith a JDI insertion timestamp (e.g., 926) into his journal space. Anicon for the corresponding .wav file may be presented by itself in thejournal pane area 901, with a computer assigned named attached below it.The user (Max) may alternatively generate a special identification forthat digitized audio file. Additionally or alternatively, a speech totext conversion program 930 may be automatically invoked in thebackground or manually activated to convert the digitized audio (oranalog recorded audio) into digitized text afterwards or evensimultaneously as Max speaks, for example into a dictation machine. Inthe latter case, Max may elect to keep both the original,sound-recording file and the computer-made transcription in his journal.He or an assistant may later compare the two and edit the journalizedtranscription in order to assure that the transcription faithfullyrepresents the original.

Aside from making immediate dictations via microphone 931 into hisjournal, Max may prerecord one or more voice notes on a tape recorder932 or other non-volatile memory device, and he may later transfer thecorresponding pre-recorded signals (e.g., wirelessly or by way of acable) into his journal as digitized representations of the originalsound (e.g., as a .wav file like the one shown at 931 a) and/or throughthe speech-to-text conversion program 930 to thereby form a digitizedtranscription of his sound track. If Max is musically/audio-wiseinclined, conversion module 930 may optionally tag his transcribedlyrics with corresponding musical notes and/or voice inflectionindicators. The concept here is to make capture of free-form expressioninto the user's journal space as easy and as inviting for the user aspossible. Because the technology of nonvolatile data storage iscontinuously making it less expensive to store larger amounts of data(e.g., on high capacity magnetic or optical disks), it is practical tohave a persistently running, recordation process that records virtuallyevery piece of internalized data or, link to external data, that a usercauses to come into his/her data processing machine and to journalizeall such recorded data. (An automated filter may be used to weed outdata that clearly does not to be journalized, such as spam emails, etc.)Later, after such persistently journalized data ages beyond a predefinedage limit, an automated garbage collecting process can be used to deleteparts of the journalized data to which logical links have not yet beenmade (meaning that the user probably did not recognize any usefulassociation between that persistently journalized data and the user'scurrent activity plans).

The journalizing process can be started at virtually any time. Max doesnot have to be operatively coupled to a computer or to a network at thetime that he thinks of and records his voiced ideas, for example into acassette recorder 932. He could have been at a meeting and could havemade some quick notes to himself about matters to follow up on when hegets back to the office. A digitizer can convert analog sound recordingsinto digital ones and store them as journalized data in Max's journalspace. A scanner (not explicitly shown) can capture scribblings, forinstance, from a paper notepad and store them 941 a as graphic data(e.g., dot-bmp format or otherwise) that is journalized into Max'sjournal space. Digital Ink or other formats of digitally recordedhandwriting might be included directly into the journal 941 a via someelectronic or wireless means, and/or converted 941 into ASCII or Unicodecharacters or other structured character sets appropriate to the journalformats supported. Sound-based entries (e.g., .wav files) that arestored in Max's journal area 901 need not have come only from Max. Theycould have originated as pre-recorded voice mails such as indicated bytelephone symbol 933. Someone may have called Max's telephone while hewas away from the office and left a voice mail. The voice mail may haveincluded some ideas or matters which Max wants to follow up on. So Maxcopied or moved those voice mail items from his telephone voicemailstorage device, via a network and into the journal area 901 of hiscomputer. The move could have been actuated through the telephone systemor through a request sent from the user's computer to the telephonesystem. The move could include automatic creation of a text counterpartby use of the voice-to-text conversion module 930. Alternatively, apersistent journalizing process could have copied the voicemail and itsoptional transcription into Max's journal space. Max might see it(and/or hear it) later when he causes the presentation software of hisdata processing machine (e.g., a possibly wireless network device) tofilter and present to him, information that has been journalized duringa prespecified time duration (e.g., the last few hours while Max was ina meeting). The point is that the automated journalizing methodscontemplated herein make it easy and thus inviting for the user (e.g.,Max) to record virtually everything of possible interest into hisjournal space.

Not all of the entries (e.g., 921–925 a) that were inserted into theuser's journal may be worth keeping. Upon review, Max can useconventional operating system and user interface operations to selectand delete journal data items that he thinks are not worth keeping.Additionally or alternatively, an automated garbage collector might beactivated to scour through old journal data items (those withmodification timestamps older than a specified date and/or time) and toautomatically archive or delete them if they have no extra-journal linksor intra-journal links or other associations to currently active dataobjects.

Journal data items may include scanned or digitally converted graphicobjects such as indicated by path 941 a leading to a stored .bmp or .jpgor other type file, which could include vector based handwritingencoding file formats. The scanned and journalized image 941 a may havecome from newspaper magazines or other printed or written matter(including Max's above-implied lunch-time napkin or other paperscribblings). Alternatively or additionally, a module 940 which performsoptical character recognition to text conversion may be used to storemore compressed versions of the material in the journal. The graphicsmaterial may be digitized (945) or otherwise acquired in a digitizedform and stored directly or through a format translator 955 into theuser's journal space. In some cases the original source material may bein a different language and an automated language translating program950 may be used to convert it into Max's preferred language before it isdirectly stored in Max's journal. After translation (950) to a preferredlanguage, the acquired data may further have its format translated byprogram 955 into a format that Max prefers (e.g., inserted into adata-holding template that Max may prefer such a boilerplate spreadsheetform, a boilerplate customer-contact form, etc.). The source materialmay additionally come from the Internet as randomly acquired email clipsor music clips or video clips or Internet code or computer code or othersuch data items. Automated data acquisition agents 970 may be used tocrawl through the Internet web space to find items of possible interestand to store them into journal area for later review by Max (or garbagecollection if Max doesn't have time to review it). Much of this acquireddata may be stored directly on Max's local disk drive 980 or other localdata storage media.

It is possible, however, for the data of some of Max's journal dataitems to be stored remotely relative to Max's in-use computer. Forexample, some journal data items may have their contents partly orwholly defined by data contained in web forums 990 where the remote datais pointed to by pointers embedded in Max's journal area 901 rather thanbeing actually stored on a storage media possessed by Max. One exampleof such pointer 924 to an external web item 991 has already beenmentioned. Note that pointer 924 is also logically linked byextra-journal link 928 c to an extra-journal object (e.g., an ADO, whichis not shown). In this manner, journal data items that might really bestored on a web server on a network can be presented to the user withinjournal pane area 901 as if they are integrated as part of Max'sjournal. The hyperlinked JDI might be given a time stamp and be givenextra-journal links to an ADO. Furthermore, tool or menu bar item 914might provide Max with options to cause his ACMAN system to provide inthe on-display presentation only Max's local (stored on his localmachine area) JDI expressions, or only integrated presentations of hispointed to remotely stored (e.g. possible web forum) JDIs, or both localand remote JDI expressions together 914 a. Note that the illustratedjournal area 901 shows a possible presentation with the local JDI optionselected. Here, there may be presented a pointer to an external JDIcontent 924, rather than a presentation of that actual content. (In oneembodiment, if a “Local” option of 914 is chosen, even externalreference indicators such as 924 might be hidden from the on-displaypresentation.) By clicking his mouse or pointer on that hyperlinkpresentation, a separate web browser window might popup to present thatweb forum information. In contrast, had the “Both” or “Remote” optionsof tool 914 been selected, the journal presentation 901 might present,within the integrated journal pane presentation area, an expression ofthe content of the remotely stored information, rather than just apointer 924 to it.

If Max's computer is currently connected to an appropriate network, thenMax may click on the embedded pointer 924 to launch a browser view ofthe referenced remote data item 991. Incidentally, Max's automated dataacquisition agents 970 are not to be confused with ACMAN peeking agentssuch as 203″ in FIG. 2. Depending on machine configuration, the peekingagents (Max's) are another way that data may be automatically broughtinto Max's journal space or into his foyered activity plans space. Butthe peeking agents (e.g., 203″) might require installation permissionfrom the owners (e.g., Adam) of the machine area(s) of the ADO's 253 andJDI's 254 a, 254 b which they are peeking in on, and the peeked andupdated (266) JDI's might have to be associated with non-privateactivity data objects.

Referring to command bar 910 of FIG. 9A, Max may be provided with avariety of journal manipulating options including the tools 916 aunfurled under tools drop down menu bottom 916. The illustrated tooloptions 916 a may include the ability to highlight or de-highlight withdifferent colors various journal data items or selected parts of suchjournal data items shown in journal area 901. The color highlighting maybe later used for sort or find operations or even creating logicallinks. The illustrated tool options 916 a also may include the abilityto move different journal data items next to each other to show certainspatial relationships between the various journal data items. The tooloptions may also include the ability to create intra-journal groupingsor extra-journal links between display journal data items and/oractivity data objects in another window pane which is not shown in FIG.9A (see briefly area 610 of FIG. 6A). Max may also freely undo linkagesformed between various journal data items and extra-journal data itemsas indicated by the Unlink tool in 916. These tools 916 may not be theonly way to do these operations, but simply are representative ofvarious means by which Max might issue various commands to his machine.Right or left side single-click and/or double-click command generatingis possible, as are mouse or other dragging actions, alone or incombination with control keys, or by any other useful means ofindicating a command instruction to the in-use data processing machine.(FIG. 22, FIG. 26 and FIG. 27 show other possible command issuing tools,as well.)

The command bar 910 may further include the typical kinds of command bartabs found in conventional software for performing File manipulation(911), Searching (912), Editing (913).and Viewing control (914).Although not explicitly shown, the File tab 911 may unfurl a drop downmenu which may allow for the storage or exporting of the journal-heldJDIs in uniquely named files and/or for the storage or export ofselected subsets of displayed items into uniquely named files. In otherwords, Max could select desired parts of journal data items 921–925 aand append the selected parts into a pre-designated collection file thatis to be kept and/or transmitted elsewhere. The Search tab 912 may allowfor the usual types of searches for journal items having specific textcontent, data type, or otherwise. One of the unfurled options, 912 amight define another means of accessing the command menu for invokingthe search capabilities described for area 920 a, i.e., it can be usedfor searching for JDIs with extra-journal links to specific ActivityData Objects or for JDIs matching specific search string patterns. TheEDIT tab 913 may allow for editing of text to different fonts, colors,and/or the editing of graphic objects as appropriate. The VIEW tab 914may allow for viewing journal data items from different perspectives,including radio boxes for viewing only locally stored journal data items(e.g., only those in storage 258 of FIG. 2) or only remotely storedjournal data items (e.g., those in storage 298) or both local andremotely stored journal data items.

FIG. 9B shows a possible data structure 905 that may be used fordefining a Journal Data Item (JDI). The data structure 905 might includea first field 951 for storing the initial JDI insertion time stamp(e.g., the first time that data of the JDI was stored into the user'sjournal space). Field 951 may be used to chronologically sort anddisplay journal data items according to such sorting as indicated indisplay pane area 621 of FIG. 6A. Sometimes users may want to force thepresentation of some JDIs into prior date locations in their journal.For instance, a month after Max entered JDI 630 (in FIG. 6A); he mightadd a picture (.JPG) of Magic Johnson. It might not make sense to Max tohave that picture displayed somewhere far away in the chronologicaljournal presentation just because Max entered the picture later—Max maystill want this journal data item displayed close to the initial JDIeven though his JDI modifications may occur later. The Relative OrderSuffix of 951 may be used for that purpose. Max can position his pointernear the initial JDI expression, possibly double click his pointer toindicate that he wishes to further edit or insert data into his journalfor that prior time period, and then add the picture. That newlyinserted and recorded JDI can be forced to be displayed in the May 27,2003 display segment within the journal, even though he might have addedit sometime in June, 2003. The newly recorded JDI might still be giventhe exact same JDI insertion time stamp as 630, but it might also get arelative order suffix of “1”, indicating it should follow the originalJDI 630, which might have a relative order suffix of “0”. The JDIstructure 905 optionally includes a second field 951 a to indicate thetime of last modification to the corresponding JDI. This JDImodification timestamp might be later modified to reflect a later timeif additional data is appended to an earlier started journal data item,or if a JDI is modified or updated in any way. The insertion timestamp(coupled with the relative order suffix if provided) can be used todisplay JDI expressions in a chronological order, while the modificationtimestamps can be used for archiving stale journal data items or forgarbage collection purposes. For instance, if Max wants to archive hisold parts of his journal, he may want to archive and remove only JDIsthat have a last modification time of more than one year ago and thathave no extra-journal links to any active Activity Data Objects. With alast modification timestamp, even JDIs with no extra-journal links thatwere initiated two years ago, but were modified in the last year mightstill be left in his current journal space.

The JDI structure 905 optionally includes a third field 952 a indicatingwhere the underlying journalized data is stored, which might not bedirectly in the body of data structure 905. For example, while a lot ofthe journal data items displayed in the journal presentation may becontained within the local journal file itself, the ACMAN journal mighthave the capability to integrate and display data from disparatesources, including internet hosted data as well as data on the user'slocal machine area or local network but using dynamic links (e.g.embedded object linking) to point to that data. So 952 a might indicatewhether the JDI data is located inside the body (963) of the JDIstructure 905 itself, or as a section of data on a web forum storageunit (e.g., 298, FIG. 2), or as a separate file on a local storage unit(258). A fourth optional field 952 b indicates what type (or in oneembodiment, types) of data the journal data item is so that anappropriate HTML, JPEG, or other display translator may be used forcorrectly viewing the data and/or so that JDI data may be sorted and/orpresented by data type. For example, if the type is .txt indicatingtext, then that data might be transformed into a viewable presentationwith the journal presentation software using predefined text or wordprocessing rules according to type. If the indicated data type is .jpg,then a predefined JPEG viewer or a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) might beused to display that underlying data within the journal presentationpane or adjacent to it. If the indicated data type is .wav or anothersuch audio format then an appropriate audio playing and/or videodisplaying program may be automatically invoked for playing and/ordisplaying the contents of the journal data item. In any of these cases,if the data type is not directly supported by the journal presentationsoftware, an outside application such as a browser (for .HTML) or JPEGviewer may be called by the ACMAN system to display the informationseparately or to embed it within the journal display pane. The functionof field 952 b may additionally or alternatively be provided by theoperating system registry. However, if field 952 b is used, the user mayhide the correct data-type from being shown in the disk directory orregistry. Also, the user may elect to utilize a file-opening program(e.g., browser) other than the one indicated in the Operating Systemregistry for that file type, or to integrate the presentation of thatdata type within the journal presentation area. Also, the user may electto hide the content in optional body storage area 963, in which case theOS will typically not know what the data type is. An optional additionalfield 952 c can be used to indicate the X and Y dimensions of a JDI datastructure within the presentation. Although for text this may not benecessary, for other data types such as graphics, it can be helpful toproperly display a data object to the users' size preference.

Field 953 represents a pointer to the primary data content of thecorresponding JDI. The primary data content may be stored as a fileanywhere on the local storage disk 980′ inside 963 or outside of thebody of JDI structure 905 or remotely in a web-based storage area (e.g.,298, FIG. 2). Pointer 953 may simply be an offset or address location953 a within the ACMAN journal file that points to a lower body portion963 of the journal data structure 905 where the lower body portioncontains the actual, primary journal data content as text or otherwise.Or pointer 953 may be a pointer 953 b to a remote storage location suchas a website 991′, or it may be a pointer to a separate but local file953 c on local storage disk 980′, or not shown a separate file on alocal area network. Where used herein, it is understood that pointersmay be indirect pointers to other pointers or to offset tables or thelike rather than being just immediate pointers to the referenced data.

Field 954 a can indicate a relative or absolute position within thejournal presentation (e.g., FIG. 9A, 901) where the current journal dataitem is to be displayed. This is specifically useful for viewing thejournal in a sticky note format. The user can therefore move stickynotes to where he likes and they will still be there the next time hevisits in sticky-note viewing mode. Additionally or alternatively, otherdata structures within the user's data processing machine may keep trackof the last relative display position of a given journal item and theseother data structures may be used to control the current displayposition of the given journal item

JDI field 954 b may provide various parameters for indicating how todisplay the current journal data item. For example, it might bedisplayed as a yellow colored sticky note of a predefined size and shapewith lettering that is italicized. A various assortment of other displayoptions (such as Background Area Texture, Foreground Text Color, orothers not shown) may be defined in field 954 b.

As already explained, the whole (outer boundary) of a given journal dataitem might be logically associated to one or more Activity Data Objects(ADOs). Field 956 might identify the activity data object(s) that is/areassociated with the whole of the journal data item if there is such aone or more activity data objects. Typically the activity data object(s)will be on local storage 980′ but it/they may alternatively be on aremote storage media such as on a private networked server (130, FIG. 1)or on the Internet (298, FIG. 2). The latter options are represented bysymbol 992 in FIG. 9B.

As already explained (as shown by 928 d in FIG. 9A), an inner one ormore subsets of the whole (outer boundary) of a given journal data itemcan be logically associated to one or more Activity Data Objects. Field957 might indicate whether there are any such subset regions within theJDI body data. There could be zero such subset regions. The example ofFIG. 9B shows that there are two sets of such selected regions. Each setmight have certain of its own unique attributes. Field 957 a identifiesthe subset region #1, or subset-1. This subset region can be identifiedas having one or more beginning points, end points, and/or a datalengths. Thus 957 a might identify the regions of its set accordingly.Field 957 b indicates possible display options for the subset-1. In theillustrated example, each of the subset regions may be identified ashaving a slightly different background color, in this example yellowgreen. The selected regions may also have different textures ordifferent text colors or other such attributes. The example shows field957 b indicating such further display options for the subset-1region(s). Field 957 c might contain pointers, or extra-journal links,from the subset-1 to any associated Activity Data Object if there issuch a one or more. (Even if there are none, the user (Max) canpre-select one or more different parts of the journal data item andestablish them (957 a) as constituting a selected-subset region, and hemay set the display options (957 b) for the set well before drawinglinks between the established set or sets and a corresponding one ormore ADO's.)

Symbol 928 d′ corresponds to 928 d of FIG. 9A. The link represented byreference 928 d′ may alternatively point to an extra-net or Internettarget (e.g. 992) just as was the case with reference 928 a′ (field956).

Fields 958 a, 958 b and 958 c may be directed to the respectiveattributes of the selected region or regions in a possible subset-2.Because in the figure, these are generally the same as those indicatedfor fields 957 a, 957 b, 957 c; the details of corresponding fields 958a, 958 b, 958 c are not shown. Symbol 928 d″ is understood to representthe reference to the activity data object(s) of the subset-2 regions ifthere may be extra-journal links(s) to an activity data object.

The illustrated Journal Data Item structure 905 may belong to one ormore groups of other journal data item structures. (See briefly 927 ofFIG. 9A.) Each such group is referred to here as an “intra-journalgroup”. Field 959 a indicates how many intra-journal groups the currentjournal data item (as a whole) belongs to. In the example there are twosuch groups. It could have been none. Field 959 b may identify the firstof the intra-journal groups that the underlying entry item of JDI 905belongs to. Link 959 d may be a unidirectional or bi-directional link toa linked list for group number 1, where the latter might be identifiedat 909. Link 959 e indicates that there is another journal data item 906belonging to Group-1. Link 959 f indicates that there is yet a thirdjournal data item 907 which also belongs to Group-1. It is understoodthat each of journal data items 906 and 907 may be structured in thesame way as the first JDI 905. Possible field 959 c might be similar to959 b but may contain the identification for intra-journal Group-2.

Optional body-holding region 963 may contain the optional, actual entrydata of the current entry item represented by JDI 905. If field 952 ahad indicated that the entry data is located in the body of the journaldata item 905 rather than elsewhere, then the entry data may be solocated in region 963.

Referring back to FIG. 9A, when a user is viewing his journal data itemwithin a respective viewing pane (e.g., 901), the viewer may choose toshow or hide various types of links that exist between JDIs or groupedJDIs that are linked to activity data objects. Similarly, the viewer maychoose to show or hide links that exist between JDIs that are part of anintra-journal group. For example, by using viewing controls (not shown)under view tab 914, the user may elect to cause his system to presentintra-journal group links, such as the paper clip symbol linkage 927illustrated on the display. These respective linking indicators may havedifferent attributes including different colors and/or different shapes,such as a chain link, a line, dashed line, paper clip symbols, etc. Theshow and hide attributes of the respective links may be determined on aJDI by JDI basis or they may be determined for groups of journal itemsor globally. Returning back to FIG. 9B, item 908 a is an extra-journallink presentation control which is provided in an embodiment where eachlink with a hierarchical activity data object may be shown or hiddenaccording to a per entry item set of options. The link can be presentedto a user with different kinds of dashing attributes includingchain-link or paper-clip-link symbol-fill for the link paths and thelink may have different path-thicknesses or flash rates. Item 908 bshows a similar, possible set of attributes for the grouping links (e.g.see briefly FIG. 9A, 927). The group's display attributes 908 b arelogically connected in one embodiment to the corresponding group listingof the grouped entries 909 rather than to a single JDI 905. Eachintra-journal group may be identified with its own unique color, flashrate, dashing pattern, etc. Accordingly a user will be able todistinguish between different links even if many of them (e.g., 5 ormore) are simultaneously presented within a same window.

FIG. 9C is a diagram showing an alternative to the possible datastructure for a Journal Data Item (JDI) in FIG. 9B, in order to showjust one example of some possible differences in design structure thatcould be possible in accordance with this disclosure. The structureelements stored for a given JDI are shown in area 905′ of the diagram.951′ includes an insertion time stamp indicator as well as a relativeorder suffix, similar to as in FIG. 9B. Note that a “last update timestamp” (951 a of FIG. 9B) is not included in this embodiment, as thisinformation could be maintained by an operating system on which a user'sACMAN system is installed. Next, an owner user indicator 965 a might beincluded to indicate who has write ownership of the JDI and/or whichjournal folder sub-area this might belong to, for instance, in case thismight be a shareable JDI embodiment. 952 a′ indicates whether thecontent of the JDI is local to the user's machine area or external, forinstance on a web forum or networked location. 952 b′ indicates the datatype of the JDI data. If this is indicated as “Reference Only”, then theJDI data might be contained in a separate file or reference indicated insection 953′, instead of in optional journal data blocks 1 though N (965b–965 c). If a JDI data type is indicated in section 952 b′, there maystill be a valid Pointer/Reference 953′ as well as journal data block 1through N (965 b–965 c), as the journal data may itself be hyperlinkedto another reference. Pointer/Reference 953′ may include a possiblepointer or reference to a machine area file, external file, or otherreference. Optional journal data blocks 1 though N 965 b–965 c mightinclude journal contained data. Note that in the embodiment in FIG. 9C,there are no ADO pointers. This extra-journal link information could befully contained within the ADO data structures, although it might not beas efficient from a system performance standpoint. Note that in oneembodiment, the JDI sections of 905′ except for the optional journaldata blocks, might be fixed length fields, so that a simple JDIreferencing database could be maintained. However, to support theoptional data blocks file referencing, which may require variable lengthdata blocks, a separate table supporting a plurality of JDIs might bemaintained on the users' local machine area as in 965 d. This mightreplace a linked list logical data structure indicated in FIG. 9B (andalso indicated in FIG. 10). A data display dimensions table such as 965e might support graphical size information for a plurality of JDIs,although in another embodiment, that information if maintained, could bestored within each JDI data structure. Note that tables 965 d and 965 ereference each JDI by way of a JDI identifier. In this embodimentillustrated in FIG. 9C, the insertion time stamp and relative ordersuffix 951′ together with an owner user indicator 965 a are used touniquely identify each JDI. As will be described later, there are otherpossible ways to uniquely identify each referenceable JDI.

While FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C illustrate a possible organizations for aJournal Data Item structure, FIG. 10 illustrates a possible organizationand composition of an overall journal space that contains a plurality ofjournal items. Area 1001 provides a summarizing overview of the majorjournal space components, or sections. This may include a file headersection 1001 a, an intra-journal groupings section 1001 b, an index ofpointers to the actual Journal Data Item structures 1001 c, and the JDIstructures and optional contents 1001 d. The header section 1001 a mayinclude information about Activity Data Object File(s) that the journalspace correlates to. In one embodiment, there is only one activity dataobject file per journal space file, but this does not have to be thecase. The header section may also include a pointer 1015 to an optionalextra-journal link index 1002. This may index the extra-journal links byincluding a listing of all of a user's ADOs (whose identifiers may belisted as illustrated at 1004) that have extra-journal links to JDIs aswell as the respective JDI identifiers 1005 that are linked to thoseADOs. The contents of 1001 b might contain a listing of intra-journalgroup reference indications 1006 cross listed with the respective JDIidentifiers 1007 of members of each intra-journal group. The JDI PointerIndex 1001 c might contain a listing of JDI identifiers 1008 crosslisted against the starting memory address location of the identifiedJDI. Note that JDI identifiers such as 1008 might comprise the JDIInsertion Time Stamp plus Relative Order Suffix data of field 951 (FIG.9B), and possibly additionally data, particularly in an embodiment inwhich JDIs are shared with other users, such as one or more of a uniqueindication of JDI owner user name, a unique user contact or emailaddress, and a journal folder sub-section indicator. Other ways ofproviding JDI identifications are possible, so long as each JDI can beuniquely identified among all other JDIs referenceable by a given dataprocessing machine.

Optional runlength indicators 1009 may indicate the storage size of themain body of each given JDI if that information is not contained withinthe JDI structures themselves. Note that a JDI, including its associateddata content, may vary greatly in size. Therefore, it may be useful tooptionally store some sections of fixed length data and/or relativelysmall sections of JDI content within a top area of storage. However, ifthere are very large portions of content including Binary Large Objects(BLOBs), or if a user further modifies a recorded JDI to add asignificant amount of data, it may be necessary to store the remainingor newly added portions of data in a linked list extension area, asindicated by linked list pointer 1011.

If an extra-journal link index 1002 is provided together with the JDIPointer Index 1001 c, the ACMAN journal pane can be rendered anddisplayed much more efficiently during journal selection-filtered mode.For instance, if Max has selected a first Activity Data Object (e.g.,the one pointed to by cursor 605′″ in FIG. 6D) and, implicitly, all itschild ADOs, Max may be doing so in order to quickly view all his journaldata items associated with the selected ADOs (i.e. journal inselection-filtered mode), as displayed in pane 620′″. Using the optionalextra-journal link index 1002, ACMAN can quickly lookup all the JDIidentifiers linked to the set of ADOs of interest. Then ACMAN canretrieve from local storage (or web forums or other locations) onlythose JDIs that are needed for display. Then, by using the JDI PointerIndex 1001 c, ACMAN can know what memory address or location 1003 eachof the needed JDI contents is at and can save time by retrieving anddisplaying the relevant content for only those JDIs that are logicallylinked to the “Refinance house” ADO and its children since only thoseJDIs are needed for this particular selection-filtered presentation.

The intra-journal groupings section 1001 b might provide a listing ofeach journal group identifier and their respective sets of JDIs. Thismay allow ACMAN to process the JDIs in a group very quickly. Instead ofhaving to access every JDI and find which one or more group(s) itbelongs to, ACMAN can simply look up the JDI identifiers in theintra-journal groupings section 1001 b and get the information that way.Then ACMAN can retrieve from local storage (or web forums or otherlocations) only those JDIs that are part of a given group using the JDIpointer index 1001 c. The previous “Refinance house” example above canalso be extended. Max might select Activity Data Object 605′″ (in FIG.6D) and its child ADOs, and wish to view the associated JDIs in thejournal pane while in selection-filtered mode. But one or more of theJDI's that result from the implicit query of the extra-journal linkindex 1002 may also be part of an intra-journal grouping. To helpvisualize this, notice in FIG. 9A how extra-journal link 928 b may beassociated with JDI 923, which due to its intra-journal grouping 927 maythen be associated to JDI 922. In a similar manner, the intra-journalgroupings section 1001 b can be queried to find the grouping IDs thatcontain any of the JDIs resulting from the query of the extra-journallink index section 1002. Then the JDIs that are part of thoseintra-journal groupings can be included in the display of theselection-filtered JDIs that are directly associated with the selectedset of ADOs.

Now that possible structures for the Activity Data Objects and theJournal Data Items have been detailed, it is possible to return to FIG.1 and better appreciate a few more concepts that are implied by it.Aside from just managing his own activities (e.g., sorting and filteringthrough displayed activity descriptions and associated journaled items,and editing these), Max Manager may often want to share on a timelybasis his computer-stored expressions regarding his activity plans withother people, such as Adam Assistant. This could be a problem if Adam isout on the road, say visiting clients in China and Max is in WashingtonD.C., jumping between meetings. It is unlikely that Max and Adam will beon-line at the same time or that they will easily be able to communicateby telephone (e.g., because of time zone differences). Max may not besure of what kind network connection Adam can establish for his laptopcomputer 120. In one embodiment, Max and Adam use email or othermessaging means (e.g. ftp, instant messaging, or others), to carry theback and forth transmissions used for sharing offers/requests (e.g., Dg,WS, FYI), receipt acknowledgements, offer-acceptances and/or updatemessages that relay ADO and/or JDI modifications. Such messagedexchanges can be sent through one or more email or other messageexchange servers (see 295 of FIG. 2), such as those that use POP3,Microsoft Exchange, or SMTP protocols. Max and Adam's email servers 295(in FIG. 2) can be separate machines in separate locations and evenhosted by different companies. The exchanges of information 115 c and128 c between the respective data processing machines 110 and 120 usedby Max and Adam can therefore be asynchronous and need not rely on acentral corporate organizational server such as 130. Adam does not haveto be operatively coupled to a network 115 c at the same time that Maxsends activity sharing requests 115 b or other activity-relatedtransmissions. Max does not have to be operatively coupled to a network128 c at the time that Adam sends an update message 128 b or otheractivity-related transmissions. As a result, neither Max nor Adam istime bound to the machine system environment 100. Neither has to beoperatively coupled to an organizational server 130 at the time he comesup with brainstorming ideas, records them, or tries to schedule amachine instruction to send expressions of such ideas to one or morepossible collaborators. None of the possible collaborators (e.g., Harry,Charlie) has to be operatively coupled to an organizational server 130at the time he reviews and tries understand the expressed ideas of asender. The activity supporting transmissions 115 b and 128 b can fullycircumvent the organizational server(s) 130. Each of Max and Adam can beon the road and without access to server link 131 and yet they cancontinue to see what the other person last sent (if received) and theycan each continue to individually refine and evolve their ownrespective, expressions (116, 126) of activity plans.

There are a number of subtle benefits to such an asynchronously coupled,collaboration system. In many corporations and other organizations, thesetting up of collaboration systems that use a central organizationalserver 130 requires a lot of setup effort and support. In addition, theorganizational server computers 130 occasionally must be shutdown formaintenance purposes. Since at least some embodiments of the ACMANsystem 105 can circumvent the use of organizational servers 130,activity co-developers such as Max and Adam can continue to exchangeideas productively and/or work alone even when the organizationalservers 130 or organizational networks of their shared or respectiveorganizations are temporarily shutdown.

Many organizations provide expressions of major organizationalobjectives 103, sometimes referred to in the corporate world as MBOs(Management By Objective). It would be useful if one or both of Max andAdam can see how their local activities overlap with the majororganizational objectives of the one or more organizations to which theyeach respectively belong or want to associate with. Each of Max and Adamcan send FYI copies of their respective communications to Charlie Chief(403 in FIG. 4) and/or other members of relevant organizations. Inresponse, Charlie Chief may then mentor one or both of Max and Adam onthe MBO's of his organization by sending back FYI snippets from his,Charlie's, activity plans. In this way Max and/or Adam can becomeeducated over time about the contexts from which Charlie Chief (oranother organizational head) views the world. Additionally oralternatively, after receiving an FYI communication from Max or Adam,Charlie Chief may volunteer to join in on one of their activities eventhough he had not been formally asked to do so. The FYI copying andsharing mechanism allows upper management (e.g., Charlie Chief 403) tokeep an eye on what is happening in the trenches, even though therespective FYI Shared activity expression recipients are not required tobe actively involved in the said activity. The FYI sharing mechanismalso allows persons in lower parts of a hierarchical organization tounderstand what is developing on the big picture front-provided, thatis, that upper management (e.g., Charlie Chief 403) is willing to sharesuch information. In addition, by sharing activity descriptions as FYIshared, ACMAN users can at their choosing cause their systems to presentsuch FYI shared activity descriptions, or to hide (filter) them fromtheir on-display presentations. This kind of automatic visibilitycontrol allows individuals to alternatively focus on the things theyneed to do, or take a moment to monitor or observe things that othersare doing that they may want to be aware of or help out with.

As already indicated, each activity developing and/or implementingperson (Max or Adam) may prefer to express his activities model tohimself or to others in one or both of a formally structured format(e.g., ADO expressions presented as spreadsheet line items and/or asgraphical icons) and a less structured format (e.g., JDI expressionspresented as randomly attached sticky notes). In accordance with oneaspect of the present disclosure, the ACMAN system can be configurablytailored to suit the presentation preferences of individuals such as MaxManager 101 and/or Adam Assistant 102 so that each is given theopportunity to see his local presentations (e.g. 111, 121 ) in a formthat fits his way of thinking, where the local presentation cansimultaneously include both structured information (e.g. 116, 126) andless structured information (e.g. 117, 127). One viewer (102) may likegraphical presentations (125) for representing his organized activitiesand/or unstructured notes while another (101) may prefer to have theunderlying data presented in tabular form (e.g., 116) or another format.In one embodiment, a user's display (see briefly FIG. 6A) simultaneouslyshows a selection-filtered presentation of the user's ADO's (ActivityData Objects) and a selection-filtered presentation of the user'sjournal data item (JDI) expressions with each of the simultaneouslyshown presentations being respectively in tabular or graphical oranother format per the user's choice of preferences.

In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, much of theactivity-planning and/or activity-description refinement work that auser performs can occur while using only local storage media (see 259 ofFIG. 2). This may be done so that there will be no frustration with slowsystem response time (101 r) and no detriment to usability in times whencentralized organizational servers 130 are down or operative connectionto whole or parts of the Internet 115 c or of other such networks isunavailable. Packet-based communication and/or exchange servers may beused (e.g. email) for transmitting activity sharing requests 115 b andreturning progress updates 128 b on an asynchronous basis so thatintermittent downtime for network links does not become a major obstacleto usability. This will become clearer as further aspects are detailed.

In one embodiment, ACMAN system users (e.g. Max, Adam, etc.) may begiven the ability to apply specific levels of access security, orprivacy, to one or more parts of their respectively-owned activity planhierarchies. Max might wish to share information about some of hisactivities and yet retain privacy for information about otheractivities. Accordingly, he would like to have a system that establishesand enforces privacy levels quickly, easily and intuitively. When Max issharing an activity description with others (say his plans for “FreeSamples”—see item 1172 b of FIG. 11), it may make sense for Max to alsoshare information about parent activities (e.g., “Max'sActivities\Work\Cookie Products”) that encompass that subactivity, sothat the other people will better understand the context from which Maxis expressing his plans for the subactivity. On the other hand, Max maynot want to reveal information about other child activities which mayfall under the same parents in his hierarchical tree or under theactivity expression Max wants to share (e.g., the surprise birthdayparty he is planning for his boss 1172 d). One effective way to supportboth needs could be to allow the assignment of equal or increasinglevels of privacy to be applied to primary child Activity Data Objectsof respective parent Activity Data Objects. This would enable people toplan and work on activities yet retain similar or additional levels ofprivacy for details (child ADOs) when needed. This also might providesACMAN with a simple rule set by which to automatically privatize childactivity data objects without time consuming intervention from the user,Max. Such an approach enables people to simultaneously work on amultitude of activities and yet retain privacy over parts of their workthey do not want others to see (others with only low-level accessprivileges). Lastly, since Journal Data Items can be associated viaextra-journal links to the various, privacy-assigned activity dataobjects; ACMAN can easily determine privacy levels of the journal dataitems by association. In one embodiment, if one JDI has extra-journallinks to multiple ADOs with different privacy levels, then the JDI wouldbe shareable according to the most private (highest level) of thosedifferent privacy levels. Another embodiment might provide for privacylevel settings to be included within each JDI structure, and/orfurthermore wherein the privacy level recorded within the JDI structurecan be optionally and/or automatically increased if a given JDI isextra-journal linked with an ADO with a higher level of privacy than theinitial JDI setting.

There might be any number of privacy levels, but let's use an examplewhere there are 5 levels. Level 0 is the lowest and most public level.Level 1 might be slightly less “public”, allowing access to almostanyone. Level 2 might be “Company Confidential”, meaning that onlypeople who are trusted associates of Max's company or of their businesspartners (e.g. members of companies with a confidentiality orNon-Disclosure Agreement) have read access. Level 3 might be “CompanyInternal Only”, meaning only trusted, full-time employees of Max'scompany have access. Level 4 might be totally private, meaning forexample that only Max has access to a given activity data object withsuch a totally private setting. These are not the only privacy levelspossible nor are these the only number of privacy levels possible. Notethat it will become more evident later in this disclosure how access byothers to Max's Activity Data Objects and JDI's might be achieved.

FIG. 11 illustrates the above-introduced privacy scheme. In thisexample, Max's top level, or root Activity Data Object 1175 has beenassigned a relatively minimal privacy value (1=fairly public) asindicated by the tab 1190 above the rectangle representing that ADO1175. Possibly by default, if Max inserts any new Activity Data Objectunder ADO 1175, the assigned privacy level of that new child ADO mightby default be set to 1 as well. But it might be allowable for Max to seta more secure level of privacy for any ADO below ADO 1175, as indicatedroughly by the downwardly pointing axis arrow 1192 to the left of pane1110. For instance, Max might not want anyone to be able to view oraccess any activity planning expressions of his “Personal” ADOs, so hesets the privacy level of ADO 1191 to 4, or “Most Private” as isindicated at tab 1191 a. In response, Max's data processing machinemight automatically assign an equal privacy value (4) to everypre-existing and primary Child of the “Personal” Activity Data Objectnode 1191. Note that this downward propagation of increasing privacysettings does not need to apply to secondary child ADOs of node 1191. Byway of example, Max was thinking about giving free samples of his newcookie to his friends. He created a secondary link between activitynodes 1172 b and 1177 a. Although the “Free Samples” node 1172 b is nowa secondary child of the “Friends” node 1177 a, the downward propagationof 4's along the primary progeny of the “Personal” node 1191 might notchange the privacy setting for secondary child node 1172 b. The privacylevel for the “Free Samples” node 1172 b remains at 1, or “relativelyPublic”. This example shows one advantage of having primary andsecondary hierarchies-the setting of privacy levels does not have to getoverly complicated, and yet at the same time it is still possible tofreely associate different activities with other activities withoutconstraints.

In another example of how this works, Max has pre-assigned to his “MeatProducts” activity node 1173 b a privacy level of 2, or “CompanyConfidential” possibly. Since everything related to this activity dataobject is confidential and can be shared only within Max's company orwith members of partner companies that are identified as having aconfidentiality agreement, the primary child activity of developing anew Beef product might receive a propagated down, “2” value andtherefore also remains appropriately secure. Trusted as the people whowork on the new Beef product may be, not all of them are trusted toreceive shared information about Staff activities. Activity Data Object1173 a and all its primary children (e.g., Meetings) might therefore beassigned a higher level of 3, or “Company Internal Only” possibly, dueto automatic downward propagation. Finally, Max may want meetingactivities with his staff to be accessible only to a customized subsetof privacy level 3. Thus tab 1172 c might indicate that privacy level 3has propagated down to this ADO, but that afterwards, Max modified it byindicating that only a certain subset “A” of people having level 3clearance are to receive shared information about the “ . . .\Staff\Meetings” and possibly below activity node(s). More specifically,Max may choose to restrict access from everyone except his specificstaff members, his boss Charlie 403 (FIG. 4), and Harry HR 404. If Maxwere to create new primary child ADO's below the “Meetings” ADO, thesame 3-A privacy settings 1172 c might automatically propagate down.However, Max can later change the inherited privacy settings of thoselower down, primary children (not shown).

In one embodiment, it is possible that although the privacy level of the“Golf” ADO 1177 might be inherited automatically as a “4” from theprimary parent “Friends” ADO 1177 a, the user/owner could still manuallydecrease the privacy level of “Golf” down to a lower level, say “1” sothat many other people can access that activity description. If Max wereto share a derived copy of “Golf” 1177 to other users who have only a“1” access privilege, his transmission might include parent ADOs inorder to provide contextual reference, but the parent hierarchy thatmight be transmitted might leave out the ADOs that are more private thana “1”. Thus, the ACMAN system might automatically transmit activityplans including “All My (Max's) Activities\Golf” instead of “All My(Max's) Activities\Personal\Friends\Golf”.

The privacy settings scheme as discussed above may apply not only in thebasic sense of giving other persons read-access, but as may already beand will become more apparent below, also applies to transmissions ofshared copies and of updates. If a person with low-level clearance isblocked from having high-privacy level messages being sent to him (wherethe messages can contain new ADOs, new JDIs and/or updates to older ADOsand/or JDIs), then in effect that person is being blocked from seeingthe higher-privacy content. Accordingly, privacy values may be used inaccordance with the disclosure for determining whether to selectivelyblock various messages from being transmitted to recipients of varyingclearance levels. In one embodiment, each user/owner is empowered toassign whatever clearance level he/she wants for any of the recipientsthat that user/owner's machine will be potentially sending updatemessages to and the same user/owner is empowered to assign whateverprivacy level he/she wants to any of his/her owned ADO's and/or JDI's.In another embodiment, clearance levels of recipients are established ina secured database download or other such file that the user/owner isnot free to easily change (e.g., there could be digital signature checksand/or encryption to prevent alteration of the clearance-assigning list)and corporate management may control how that clearance-assigning listis configured.

Full details about how an activity data object (ADO) might be structuredhave not yet been given. FIG. 12A shows one possible embodiment of anADO structure 1220 b wherein that ADO might be included in ahierarchically organizable tree. Magnification symbol 1220 a indicatesthat the detailed ADO 1220 b is typically one of a plurality of alikeADO's that can link together to define a hierarchical tree composed ofactivity nodes and primary and/or optional secondary branches. (Forexample ADO 1220 b represents a first child activity node 1220 that hasas its primary parent, node 1210.) FIG. 12A shows a few simple parts ofan overall tree structures 1200 in which instances of different ADOshave been embedded into the user's owned tree. (As already indicated,ownership often implies herein that the owner generally has the right tomodify the components of what he or she owns—although certain attributessuch as creation date, owner's digital signature, etc. might be blockedfrom being changed in some embodiments. A first user may receive a copyof part or all of another tree which is owned by another user. In suchcase, the first user might generally not be permitted to modify thereceived copy of that other user's tree. However, the first user coulddrag a copy of the received copy into his own tree—the first user'sembedded tree—and thereby make that dragged, derivative copy his own.More on this later.) Max's “own” tree is typically comprised of ADO'sthat express activities he is (or has been) actively involved in and hisown ADO's typically express those activities in the way that Max choosesto express them.

In one embodiment, an embedded (i.e. owned by a given user) activitydescription such as 1220 might represent some child activity node thatsupports or is categorized under a bigger or more general embeddedparent activity. (Of course, an ACMAN system user is free to organizeactivity nodes as respective parent and child nodes, or vice versa, forwhatever purpose they deem appropriate, but a typical use might be asjust described.) A primary hierarchical organization 1200 (or moresimply, a primary tree) may be structured to imply or explicitly declareone node as being the root node 1203 of the user's embedded tree. Such aroot node could be defined by an ADO or by other means. This node may bevisible to the user or hidden as a dummy node, to act as a root of hisowned tree. The illustrated second node 1210 below root node 1203 is a“primary child” of the root node 1203. Although not shown, the root nodemay have more than one primary child node. Second node 1210 is also the“primary parent” of the magnified third activity node 1220. Every nodeincluding the root node (1203, 1210, 1220, etc.) can have one or moreprimary children, if any. However, every node in the primary treestructure, except for the root node, should have one and only oneprimary parent. The root node of the primary tree, being the topmostnode, generally has no parent node(s). In one embodiment, any noderegardless of whether it has any primary child nodes (e.g. 1203, 1210 or1220) can have one or more “secondary” children, if any. (Note forexample, the secondary child pointer 1227 d of addable new node 1227 c,discussed below.) In this embodiment, every primary child activity node(i.e. not including the root node) is allowed to have one or more“secondary” parents (e.g., as implied by pointers 1216); but no activitynode is allowed to have a secondary parent unless it already has had itsprimary parent node defined. Each primary child activity node (exceptthe root node) will generally have a single, primary parent pointer(e.g., 1205, 1215) pointing up to its single primary parent.Accordingly, a simple, unambiguous and invariant hierarchy path may bedefined from each primary activity node up to the root node. Thisprimary hierarchy path may be used to unambiguously locate what primaryparent each ADO resides under. In FIG. 6A, the leftmost column 611revealed the primary hierarchy path for each respective ADO that wascovered by the corresponding spreadsheet line item. In FIG. 11 theprimary hierarchy paths were used to automatically propagate downprivacy level assignments. These are but two examples of why it isadvantageous to define a simple and clear, primary hierarchy path foreach activity node. The primary hierarchy path can be valuable formanaging various other operations as shall be seen including determiningwhich ADO(s) to include when transmitting a “shared” activities bundle(see briefly 1460 b of FIG. 14 and/or 1604 of FIG. 16A) to one or morerecipients, and when automatically determining where to transmit updatemessages regarding modifications made to one's own activity plans. Interms of privacy control, a user like Adam can clearly define a first ofhis activity nodes as “private”, and then all primary children (allprogeny) below that first node, including newly added ones, can beautomatically designated as also being private by inheriting the“private” designation down the primary tree. Afterwards, if Adammodifies any of those lower-down ADOs or adds new ones to primary treebranches below the private first node, Adam's ACMAN system canautomatically disallow Max or others to have access or updates for thoseprivate ADOs. Thus privacy can be assured without users always having toremember to manually set a privacy level. (In an alternative embodiment,if an ADO has any secondary parent ADOs with more restrictive privacylevels than its primary parent ADO, then the more restrictive privacylevel may be asserted to the child ADO.) Additionally, because eachactivity node (other than the root node) may have only one primaryparent, the singular hierarchy of activity scope helps to establish theframework in which the activity idea may be described. Max could havetwo activity representations both with the phrase, “pick up fromairport” in their Short or Long Activity Descriptor Fields. But one ofthe activities might primarily belong to a “Personal\Friends” hierarchy(see briefly FIG. 8) while the other might primarily belong to a“Work\Staff” hierarchy. The fact that the primary chain is different canalter in Max's mind what the phrase, “pick up from airport” means ineach instance.

As mentioned earlier, the topmost activity data object 1203 of FIG. 12Ais the “root” node of Max's activity hierarchy tree. We can think ofinstances of ADOs that are embedded within Max's ADO hierarchy tree asactivities that are part of Max's world 401 (FIG. 4). More specifically,for one set of embodiments, an “embedded” Activity Data Object is anyADO whose primary parent hierarchy path includes the root node (e.g.1203) of a given user's activity tree.

As already indicated for FIG. 12A, each of Max's embedded ADOs maybelong to a single “primary” tree with a single root node. But in oneembodiment, a given user such as Max, typically using only one username, could possibly own more than one “primary” tree wherein additionaltrees each have their own distinct root node, whether explicit orimplicit. (Max could designate one of his plural primary trees as forinstance “A”, while he could ascribe other names “B”, “C”, etc. forother primary trees he might own.) FIG. 6A shows an example where theuser has elected to have just one principal primary tree with a rootnode called “(All) My Activities”. (The “All” is implied.) Max couldhave instead generated separate principal trees for “(All) My PersonalActivities”, “(All) My Work Activities”, etc.; but that may have madethe organizing of overlapping activities (see 417 of FIG. 4) morecumbersome, and it would have made it more difficult to plan his timeand activities, since he may then have to reference two separateactivity trees, possibly in separate computer presentations. Theapproach of having just one primary tree for each user name is preferredbecause otherwise the complexity of multiple activity trees is too muchto effectively manage one's activities and associated information, or toassure that important activities do not slip through the “cracks” offorgotten trees. That is the value of having just one primary tree withresponsibility for all activities flowing back to a centralized topnode.

There are advantages to further having secondary parent-childrelationships however, in addition to the more structurally restrictiveprimary tree structure. While a primary tree structure that allowsexactly one primary parent per node (except possibly for the root node),can easily support Top-Down development of ideas, plans and deployment(see 551 of FIG. 5), this structure does not lend itself well toBottom-Up development (552) or to flexible and creative planning.Frequently, an activity description may relate to or support more thanone higher level activity. Planning can be overly restricted andunnatural if a user is forced to relate an activity as a child to onlyone parent activity. In the simplistic, primary tree structures that maybe found in the prior art, great activity ideas can become pigeon holedunder a detailed hierarchical structure, and users can lose track ofthem or lose focus on important activities that happen to be pigeonholed in a remote branch. Secondary parent-child relationships allowusers to “perceive” the possibility of inter-connection between two ormore disparate activity nodes, and that may not happen if the twodisparate activity nodes are never presented in a same display, near toone another. Furthermore, secondary children can provide a powerfulmeans of progeny-based activity selection and presentation. By selectinga node that has both primary and secondary children, and causing theACMAN system to present only the progeny (primary and secondary)activity expressions, a user can quickly see important yet secondarychild activity descriptions that would have otherwise been lost under adisparate node.

The illustrated hierarchy structure 1200 of FIG. 12A is structured toconveniently support not only Top-Down development (551 of FIG. 5), butalso Bottom-Up development (552), puzzle filling development (553),circular evolution (554) or other such variations of how differentindividuals choose to manage their respective activities. For the caseof Top-Down development, any node (e.g. 1220) can have additional newchild nodes (e.g. 1227 a, 1227 b, 1227 c) added to it. By way ofexample, suppose that Max has already recorded child activity node 1220and has expressed its short name (see field 1234 in detailed structure1220 b) as “Refinance house”. Later on, Max may decide to refine thisbroad activity specification by adding to node 1220 a first new, primarychild node 1227 a whose activity is described by the short name:“Investigate mortgage brokers” because Max wants to find one who ishonest and can give him a good deal. Max at the same time realizes thathe will have to give to the mortgage broker he chooses some financialdocumentation about his income and assets. Max knows that suchdocumentation should come from Paul Payroll in his company's accountinggroup and also from his personal bank, SafeCo. As a result, Max may adda second new primary node 1227 b and he may give it the short name:“Paul and SafeCo papers”. Max may later remember that he owns someshares in the stock market. He may add a third new child activity node1227 c which he chooses to designate as “Collect Stock Documents”. Lateron, Max may recollect that, besides all this, he has several savingsaccounts at different banks, and pension plans held at differentbrokerage houses. He may choose to use new bottom node 1227 c to spawnadditional newer bottom nodes for these additional activities. This isan example of a hierarchical Top-Down development methodology and how itmay be handled with a primary tree.

Bottom-Up development usually starts with an unstructured seed idea. Itoften does not appear within the formalized activity plans of a user.Suppose for example that journal data item 1292 a in Max's journal is anelectronic clip from the following news flash alert: “March 22ndAnnouncement: Government expected to cut prime interest rate late nextmonth”. If Max is a good business manager, this news flash should alerthim to several opportunities in the future. It could alert him to startchanging his business plans. It could make him realize he has anopportunity to reduce his monthly, home mortgage payments byrefinancing. If not, Max may be later spurred by a magazine article 1292b which he subsequently finds and pastes into his journal. That magazinearticle 1292 b is entitled, “Is Now the Time to Refinance Your House?”.The next day, in an online newspaper article, Max finds an article 1292c entitled “Warning: Not All Mortgage Brokers May Be The Same!”. Whilebrowsing by the three journal data items (1292 a, 1292 b, 1292 c), Maxrealizes that they should be grouped together. So he quickly creates anintra-journal grouping 1227. Max may use a filtered journal presentationtool to call them up on the same screen, perhaps with other relatedjournal items whose text contents satisfy the query: “mortgage” OR“interest rate” OR “Federal Reserve”. Max may further realize that heshould initiate one or more, formalized “To-Do” activities for himselfin view of the mental connections he has been making. One of them willbecome the “Refinance house” node 1220 which originally did not haveprimary child nodes 1227 a–1227 c. Because of the mindset he is in atthat moment, Max decides to position node 1220 as a primary child undera pre-established parent node 1210 entitled “Home”. Upon adding new node1220, Max may set a due date for himself for when to finish the“Refinance house” activity 1220. Because they are being simultaneouslypresented to him in adjacent activity and journal panes (see FIG. 6C)Max may remember to created an extra-journal link 1228 between the justcreated activity node 1220 and the associated journal data item 1292 athat had spurred him into action. Optionally, his ACMAN system mayautomatically remind him (e.g., by highlighting the JDI expression helast selected and the ADO he just created and by popping up a dialogbox: “Link these? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Don't suggest any more”). In hishurry, Max did not think about creating further logical links tojournaled items he read earlier, such as perhaps 1292 b and 1292 c. Butluckily, he had already grouped JDI 1292 a with JDIs 1292 b and 1292 cat the time he created intra-journal grouping 1227. So when he latercreates extra-journal link 1228 between the just created activity node1220 and the associated journal data item 1292 a he is also (perhapsunknowingly) creating a recorded implicit association between the newADO 1220 and the JDI grouping that includes 1292 b and 1292 c.Alternatively (not shown), Max could have created three extra-journallinks, between ADO 1220 and each of JDIs 1292 a, 1292 b, and 1292 c.

It is worthwhile to note here some of the differences that may bepresent between journaled data items and the more-formally structuredactivity descriptions in the user's hierarchical activity plans. JournalData Items such as 1292 a, 1292 a, and 1292 c are often justquickly-captured, electronic representations of random pieces ofinformation which are not necessarily categorized under a formalclassifying system. Therefore such JDI's do not typically directthemselves toward fitting in within a hierarchically structured set ofactivity plans. JDI's do not necessarily have due dates or otherattributes (see briefly details of 1220 b) which might be required ofmore-structured expressions of activity plans. The logical linkagescreated between JDI's and ADO's can, however, indirectly associate duedates or other attributes to the JDI's. Suppose for example, that alater time Max reviews his list of recorded activity descriptions,looking for activities with close due dates. The activity of node 1220is spotted. Max can then trace back along extra-journal link 1228 tofind the underlying support material of grouped journal items 1292 a,1292 b, and 1292 c. He can mentally link the due date assigned to ADO1220 (and/or other attributes of that ADO) with the less-formalizedinformation provided by the grouped journal data items 1292 a, 1292 b,and 1292 c. Perhaps Max forgot about Web link 1292 c, but now, uponrevisiting that site, it leads Max to yet further valuable information.Max uses the newly found information to spawn new ideas and addexpressions of those to his more-formalized activity plans or he simplysaves the newly found information in his journal for later action. Theseare examples of the different kinds of idea development methodologiesintroduced in FIG. 5. Back and forth (and possibly circular) synergismsmay evolve from the linkages established between journaled items and/orrecorded activity descriptions (e.g., ADO's). The above example showedhow a few random newspaper clippings, etc. led Max to record aformalized activity plan for “Refinance house” 1220 and to expand onthat project and how the backward association from ADO 1220 to JDI 1292c led Max to collecting new information and perhaps spawning newactivity plans. See again loop 566 of FIG. 5. The ACMAN system can helpfan the flames of opportunity.

The use of journaled data items such as 1292 a–1292 c to spawn thecreation of new child activity descriptions such as those in node 1220is but one example of Bottom-Up and Circular development. In looking ata presentation (e.g., FIG. 8) of his current work and personal activityplans, Max may subsequently recognize that he should have a higher goalabove that of merely refinancing his house (1220). Max may decide toinsert between nodes 1210 and 1220 (FIG. 12A), a new intermediate andprimary activity node 1219 having the short name: “Reduce HouseholdExpenses”. The to-be-inserted node 1219 would become a primary child ofnode 1210 (“Home”) and a primary parent of the earlier-recorded activitynode 1220 (“Refinance house”). Upon insertion of this intermediateactivity node 1219, primary parent pointer 1215 would be replaced bypointer 1215 b pointing from node 1220 to node 1219 and by pointer 1215a pointing from node 1219 to parent node 1210. Similarly, the primarychild pointer 1214 from node 1210 to 1220 would be replaced by theprimary child pointers 1215 c and 1215 d. Thus the clear hierarchy ofactivity data object relationships is preserved in the primary tree.

Not everything can necessarily be neatly categorized within a singleprimary tree. In accordance with the disclosure, Max may also choose atany time to create secondary parent-child links between various activitynodes where those secondary links (e.g., 1216) define more ambiguous,less direct, or just additional parent/child relationships betweenformalized activity plans. In one embodiment, the secondary links areunaffected by the insertion of new primary nodes (e.g., 1219). Theycontinue to point to whatever, still existing nodes they pointed tobefore.

Child node 1220 of FIG. 12A is shown as having secondary parent pointers1216. Such secondary parent pointers are optional. Max may decide thatthe child activity of “Refinance house” 1220 should further belong as asecondary child of other activities (say, “Work”-related activities)rather than just under primary parent node 1210. The secondary parentpointers 1216 may point to these other nodes. As already explained, oneadvantage of having just one primary parent hierarchy is that it allowsfor clear navigation between embedded nodes of the primary tree.Navigation is also possible along the branches of the secondary trees.However, this form of navigation may be more complex because each childactivity node may be allowed to have multiple secondary parents. On theother hand, secondary parent/child relationships enable activity dataobjects that support several higher level activities to be associatedwith a plurality of these higher level activities. As a result,secondary parent/child relationships make it easy to search for orselect all activity data objects related to a high level activity node,as well as all of their respective extra-journal linked journal dataitems.

Node 1210 of FIG. 12A is shown to have an optional pointer 1217 to afoyered parent activity data object. This pointer, or link, 1217 canpoint to an activity data object that is not “owned” by Max and istherefore outside of Max's own hierarchy tree, but which Max's activitydescription of 1220 might support. Max may want to carry around on hismachine, copies of other peoples' ADO's so that when Max is on the road,and not connected to a network, he can still study how those otherpeople have expressed their activity plans and have hierarchicallyorganized their ADO's relative to one another. Also, in keeping copiesof other peoples' ADO's on his machine, Max can receive “updates” ofchanges those other people have made to their plans. Max's machine mightalso automatically alert Max to the fact that one or more of the otherpeople have changed their plans. It is too early in this description tobegin to fully describe all the purposes that a foyered parent activitydata object pointer 1217 can be used for. Suffice to say that it can beused for providing valuable functions such as cross-referencing andcross-translating between the plans of different people, for example asis suggested by element 263 of FIG. 2, and as is suggested by theassociation 1523 a in FIG. 15. These aspects will be revisited againwhen ADO attribute 1245 is explained.

In one embodiment, Max can, at any time, edit or modify the content orattributes of any of his “owned” Activity Data Objects that are embeddedin his own activity tree, such as ADO's 1210, 1220, 1219, and possiblyeven 1203. He can change his recorded expressions of the underlyingactivity that each of his activity nodes represents. He can move any ofhis ADOs to new positions in his hierarchical tree. He can even deleteADOs from his tree as he pleases. But it is possible that before Maxmakes any such free-willed modifications to his “own” activitydescriptions, that Max has already transmitted out copies of one or moreof his pre-modification ADO's to other people (e.g., Adam) for sharingpurposes. It may be wise for Max to let those other people know abouthis changed activity descriptions. One possibility would be for Max tocause his machine to send out the whole of Max's activity tree(including primary and secondary pointers) to everyone whom he hasshared with before. That would be highly inefficient. It would wastebandwidth. It may make it difficult for the recipients to figure outexactly what changes Max made and how that may affect their plans. Itmay also breach certain privacy restrictions. Max may not want everyoneto know everything about all his activity descriptions. The betterapproach may be to send out selective updates to selected ones of theother users. Those other users will already have copies of Max's olderactivity descriptions (or at least those portions which Max has decidedto share with them) and all they need to receive is the activitydescriptions that Max has recently modified. Such information willenable other users them to be aware of what is being modified and, withthe help of cross-foyer pointers and/or other idea-tying references, howMax's latest modifications may affect their own plans. Additionally,transmission of only the modified ADOs will often consume lesstransmission bandwidth than would transmission of Max's full activitytree.

By the same token, if Adam and/or other participants have shared theiractivity descriptions with Max, it would be advantageous for Max'smachine to store local copies of those other participants' latestactivity descriptions and to receive updates from them. It would beadvantageous to prevent Max from altering the stored, local copies ofactivity descriptions owned by those other participants so that, whenupdate messages do arrive, Max's machine will be able to create faithfulreproductions of the latest version of those other participants'activity descriptions. When Max looks at those reproductions, he willget an accurate view of their latest plans (accurate to the time of lastupdate transmission and subsequent receipt). When an ADO that belongs to(is owned by) a second user is stored in the machine area of a firstuser, that other person's ADO, as stored in the first user's machinearea, is referred to herein as a “foyered” ADO. For instance, going backto FIG. 2 and looking at sharing agreement #2 in area 265, such anagreement state may indicate that Adam has delegated an activity, whosedescription Adam originally devised and owned, to Max so that Max cantakeover the task. (This can happen even though Max is Adam's boss.) Thesharing agreement #2 in area 265 further indicates that Max has Acceptedthe delegation. Does that mean that Adam has erased the correspondingADO from his (Adam's) machine and his machine sent a derived copy of theoriginal to Max's machine? Generally, the answer is no. Referring toFIG. 3, in that embodiment Adam would typically keep his original,activity describing, ADO embedded in his own activity tree 325 a andinitially mark its state to indicate that a delegation (Dg) request hasbeen sent to Max's machine. Adam's machine would make a derived copy ofAdam's original ADO and transmit that copy to Max's machine area. If andwhen it arrives in Max's machine area 312, Max's machine may alert Maxthat a new request has arrived. Max may preview the request and decidewhether to respond to it now or think about it before responding.Assuming that Max decides to immediately accept the delegated (Dg)responsibility, one of the things that Max's machine might automaticallydo is to move the received copy of Adam's ADO from a preview area (notshown in FIG. 3, see instead 1313 of FIG. 13) into Adam's foyered-treearea 315 b created within Max's machine area. (In another embodiment,the derived copy of Adam's ADO might be recorded as a foyered, butunreviewed, ADO in Max's machine area and not necessarily stored in aseparate review area before Max reviews it, and after review, Max'sACMAN system might just indicate this slight change in state.)Regardless, this foyered copy (in area 315 b) cannot generally bechanged by Max. At substantially the same time, if Max indicatesacceptance of involvement in the underlying activity, Max's machine mayautomatically create yet another copy (a derived copy) of Adam'stransmitted ADO and record that derived copy into the embedded area 315a of Max's machine area, in an appropriate position within Max'spossibly hierarchical tree that Max might indicate. The derived andembedded copy is owned by Max, and he can modify it as he wants. (In analternate embodiment, Max's machine may temporarily store the derivedcopy in a stack holding other derived copies and later remind Max thathe agreed to insert it into his own activity tree (315 a) because he hadaccepted the delegation.) Adam's machine may be sent a receiptacknowledgement either when the transmitted ADO arrives in Max's machinearea or when Max actually opens the message (see FIG. 16A). Adam'smachine may be sent a derived copy of Max's embedded ADO that indicatesdelegation acceptance either when Max clicks an acceptance button (orother such means) or when Max actually drags and drops the derived ADOinto Max's primary tree. Other variations are also possible. These arejust a few ways in which detailed parts of the delegation transactionmay take place. In addition, all of the transmissions back and forthmight occur quickly if the machines are coupled to an appropriatenetwork, or any of these transmissions may be queued and later sent ifthe respective machines are uncoupled to an appropriate network butlater coupled.

Referring to FIG. 13, we will briefly digress away from FIG. 12A to takea more detailed look at how ownership of ADO's changes and is tracked ascopies move from foyered area to each owner's inner sanctum, theso-called, embedded region. FIG. 13 shows a partial representation of aset of embedded and foyered activity data objects residing within Max'smachine area. Max's machine area can be constituted exclusively bystorage means within Max's local machine, or exclusively by storagemeans located elsewhere, or by data that is distributively stored over anumber of different places. Square boxes are used to represent ADO'sthat store an original or initial expression of a given shared activitydescription. The embedded activity data objects, represented by symbolsE, F, D′ (note specifically the primed version D′ indicated by box1307), and G are embedded into Max's embedded activity tree and arehierarchically organized relative to one another as shown. Accordingly,the primary hierarchy path for Max's own ADO G may be denoted as E-F-D′where E is Max's root activity node (“All My Activities').

Further in FIG. 13, hashed containers, such as 1306, are used torepresent ADO's that are owned by Adam but are nonetheless stored inAdam's foyered region 1301 of Max's machine area. More specifically, thefoyered activity data objects represented by symbols A, B, C, D (notespecifically the unprimed version D indicated by box 1306) are not partof Max's activity tree 1302. The foyered activity data objects, A, B, C,and D are transmitted copies of further ADO's (not shown) thatoriginated in Adam's activity tree on Adam's machine area. As isindicated, the original hierarchy path for Adam's owned ADO D may bedenoted as A-B-C where A might be Adam's root activity node (“All My(Adam's) Activities”) as last transmitted from Adam's machine area. Inthis example, when Adam sent a delegation request to Max, where theactual delegation request is expressed only in the ADO represented byoval D (1306), Max might better understand the importance of Adam'sproposal if Max saw where that proposal D (1306) was hierarchicallypositioned in Adam's tree. So when Adam caused his machine to transmitActivity D to Max, in one embodiment, Adam's machine might alsoautomatically include the tree fragment A-B-C in that or a closelyrelated set of transmissions sent to Max. Maybe Activity D representsthe real life activity of “review and reimburse Adam's trip expensereport”, and Adam is asking Max to do this on Max's own, i.e. with fullaccountability. So Adam sends ADO 1306 to Max as a delegation request.When Max receives this activity data object 1306 (along with primaryprogenitor activity data objects A, B, and C) from Adam, Max's ACMANsoftware stores the received activity data object(s) on Max's machine as“foyered” activity data objects. Then if Max accepts the delegationrequest, a derived ADO copy, D′ (prime) of this activity data object iscreated and embedded by the ACMAN software into Max's activity tree atposition 1307. Note that the respective activity descriptions D and D′(prime) (1306 and 1307 respectively) correspond to the same originalactivity idea, even though one copy might be foyered and anotherrespective copy might be embedded. When Max previews Adam's proposal ofA-B-C-D, as shown in foyered region 1301, Max may decide that theactivity hierarchy represented by containers A-B-C are not acceptablefor Max. Max may have his own hierarchical structure in mind, so he maychoose to embed only a derived copy D′ (1307) of Adam's transmitted D(1306, “Review Report”) into his, Max's own activity tree. Max couldinstead have elected to embed the full fragment: A-B-C-D; or variouspermutated subsets of it such as B-C-D; or C-D directly into his ownactivity tree if the implied hierarchy happened to fit Max's view of theworld and Max was ready to adopt one of those permutations as his own.But in this case, Max decided that for Max, the activity of “ReviewReport” 1307 would fit best as a child under his existing activity dataobject, F, of “Reduce Expenses”. After embedding the derived copy D′(1307) into his own activity tree, Max notices an unusual expense itemin the attached report (perhaps attached as a JDI or perhaps containedin the ADO D′ itself). Max decides that he needs to contact someone inaccounting to check the company policies to see if that item should bereimbursed under the company's new expense policies. So Max adds a newactivity data object G (1303) to his activity tree as a child of D′(1307).

This modular structure of locally stored foyered and embedded activitydata objects provides substantial benefits. It allows Max to view someportion (and possibly all) of Adam's activity representations even whileMax is disconnected from all computer networks. It also allows Max orAdam to modify and edit their owned activity descriptions whiledisconnected from all computer networks, even though their activity ideaexpressions have been shared with others. This also establishes a datastructure that enables Adam to send activity data object updates to Max,and Max to send corresponding updates to Adam, asynchronously, i.e.whenever they each happen to be able to attach briefly to a networkconnection. Lastly, this enables Max to view Adam's activity expressionsfrom Adam's view of the world, and vice versa; or even to view bothMax's and Adam's related activity trees within the same presentation sothat a comparison and better understanding of their different activitytrees (i.e., different views of the world) can be understood.

Now we'll turn our attention back to FIG. 12A to describe theillustrated Activity Data Object data structure, and we'll refer back toFIG. 13 occasionally for specific examples. Magnification 1220 a showsone possible internal structuring for the Activity Data Object (ADO) ofprimary child activity node 1220. It may be appreciated from thedescription thus far that activity data objects, such as 1210 and 1220,have certain common attributes. The common attributes can include any orall of the data fields magnified by 1220 a as well as: (a) thepossession, in one embodiment, of one and only one primary parentpointer (e.g., 1215) (except for the root node) and (b) the possessionof one or more types of unique Activity Data Object Identifiers. (e.g.,1221 and/or 1222). The common attributes of all the activity nodes allowthem to be modeled under an object-oriented approach.

The first ADO field described in the ADO data structure 1220 b of FIG.12A is the Attributes Index and Attributes Offsets section 1257. Thismight be a header section of the ADO that includes information about thestructure of the ADO. Some of the fields in 1220 b may be fixed lengthfields, while others may be variable length fields. In one embodiment,standard and fixed length ADO fields might be organized physically atthe top of the data structure so that indexing of ADOs can be moreefficiently achieved, and then variable length and possibly optionalcustom fields might be included after the fixed length fields section.The Attributes Index and Address Offsets section 1257 might serve twokey purposes, among others. One is that it might provide address offsetinformation and/or other ADO section logical and/or physical addressinformation so that given an ADO starting address, the various otherdata fields can be located and recognized according to their appropriatefield definition, by a data processing machine. This might be especiallyhelpful regarding variable length fields, since the starting point ofensuing fields might not be easily determined. A second key purpose isthat if ACMAN system users ever define optional custom fields 1256, thissection 1257 might include the respective custom field type identifiersso that the data processing machine would be able to identify the typeof field and data processing rules for which the respective custom fielddata should be processed. A third possible purpose of field 1257 is thatif different versions of the ACMAN systems might be used by differentusers who wish to share ADOs with each other, if those respectivelyshared ADOs have different ADO structures or relative orderings of ADOfield, yet they still have some of the same ADO field types (e.g.1222,1233, etc.), Attributes Index and Address Offsets field 1257 canprovide each user's data processing machine with the necessaryinformation to interpret the respectively shared ADOs.

In the magnified view (1220 a) of ADO 1220, there may be two types ofactivity data object identifiers (ADO IDs): a Local Activity Data ObjectID (LID) 1221 and a Common Idea Expression Reference (CIER) 1222. TheLID may provide an ADO reference identifier that is unique among theLIDs of other ADOs stored on a given user's machine area. The CIER, onthe other hand, may provide a reference identifier that identifies anADO as belonging to an exclusive group of ADOs that describe anoriginally expressed activity idea, uniquely tying those ADO's togetherfor a pool of sharing ADO users. A CIER of the same value in two or moreADOs might indicate that these ADOs correspond to the same originalactivity idea expression, even though these ADOs may be foyered and/orembedded.

Digressing briefly back to FIG. 13, this can be seen more clearly. EachADO ID (whether LID or CIER type) may be made up of a user name plus anActivity Data Object reference code. For instance, corresponding to theADO instance 1304, the first portion of the LID reference code, 1308,indicates a unique user name “Max”, while the reference code section1309 indicates a value of “5”. Possibly this section 1309 may be aserial reference code, and for convenience, it will be referred toherein as a serial reference code, although it does not necessarily needto be serial. Furthermore, note that among the LIDs of ADOs in Max'sMachine Area, each of the eight ADOs shown (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G) hasa unique LID (“Max.5”, “Max.6”, etc.). For users of ACMAN software, eachuser typically may have one (or possibly more than one) user name. EachLID's ADO serial reference code might be unique among all the otherserial numbers created for a given user name by an ACMAN system. In oneembodiment, the user names of ACMAN system users are unique amongthemselves, and can be established as an individual's email or internetcontact address, or in an alternative embodiment, by providing acentrally issued user name, unique among other such centrally issueduser names, when a user registers their ACMAN software with acentralized registration service (e.g., APEX center 1470 of FIG. 14). Asmentioned above, each Local ADO ID (LID) serial reference code might beunique among the other LID serial numbers created for a given user nameby an ACMAN system. Per each user name, a unique ADO serial number canbe guaranteed if the licensed and installed ACMAN software maintains alist of it's previously created ADO serial reference codes. By combininga unique user name and a unique ADO reference code into an ADO IDobject, each LID in the universe can therefore be unique, regardless ofwhether the LID refers to an ADO that is embedded, foyered, shared, orwhose machine area its ADO may be stored on. Of course, an ADO ID, suchas a Local ADO ID 1221 does not have to consist of a user name or uniqueuser name indicator. That is just one embodiment. Another identifiermeans that can uniquely identify an ADO among all the referenceable ADOsfor an ACMAN system and/or specifiable pool of ACMAN systems that mayshare activity information together, would be sufficient.

The CIER 1222 may provide one or more ADOs with a unique referenceidentifier corresponding to one originally shared activity idea,regardless of which embedded or foyered activity tree(s) the ADO(s)reside on or what machine area they reside on. A CIER-tied group of ADOsis an example of a common-idea-tied group of ADOs. “Common” in thiscontext implies an exclusive grouping of the ADOs to the one commonidea. There may be other idea-tied groups that are not mutuallyexclusive. There may be other ways for tying ADOs to respective ideassuch as by using pointers and/or cross referencing tables.

Notice that in FIG. 13, there is a foyered ADO 1306 representingactivity description expression D as well as an ADO 1307 representingactivity description expression D′. Note further that the respectiveLIDs (1304 a and 1305 a) are different, while the CIERs (1304 b and 1305b) are identical, indicated as “Adam.4”. The user name that might beincluded as part of the CIER indication might be set to the user name ofthe Idea Originator of the shared activity data object (in this example“Adam”), regardless of in whose machine area or in which activity treethe various Activity Data Object copies, or instances, may be stored.

Returning back to FIG. 12A, the CIER 1222 may contain the user name ofthe originator of the activity idea. In one embodiment, this user namewould be that of the one who created the initial instance of thepossibly shared activity data object; later, derived copies of a givenactivity data object, referring to the same original activity idea, maybe created, but the Idea Originator User Name for the various ADO copieswould remain the same. The CIER is needed so that activity objectsreferring to the same original activity idea can be identified as such,and also in many cases, so that a machine can automatically transmit ADOupdates to the Idea Originator of an activity description that has beenshared. For derived copies of ADOs corresponding to the same givenactivity idea, regardless of whose machine area the copy or copies arestored on, the CIER might be identical. The LID on the other hand isunique for every instance of an ADO stored on a user's local machinearea. So copies or different instances of activity data objects on asingle user's machine area might have the same CIER but each such ADOmay have a different LID. Each ADO also might have an “Idea OriginatorUser Name & Address” (IOUNA) field 1223, an “Owner User Name & Address”(OUNA) field 1224, and/or an “Activity Tree User Name” (ATUN) field1225. The IOUNA field 1223 may be used to store the user name of theoriginating author of an expressed activity idea as well as some form ofcontact address(es) for this user. In practice, the user name componentof the IOUNA field may not be strictly required, since that informationmight typically be redundant to the user name component in the CIER1222. However, this redundancy may be beneficial in ACMAN systemdevelopment or debugging, and especially in cases where a user changeshis contact address. One main benefit of the address component of theIOUNA field 1223 however, is that recipients of a shared activity dataobject could get the transmitted ADO(s) secondhand rather than directlyfrom the Idea Originator. If they want to participate in the activity,they can use the IOUNA of section 1223 to learn more about who theoriginator of the proposal might be (say, “Adam”) and to contact theoriginator (Adam). Even if an activity data object is created by Adam,then shared from Adam to Max and then again shared from Max to Harry,the IOUNA for each copy of the ADO should still be Adam.

The Owner User Name and Address (OUNA) field 1224 may be used toindicate the ADO owner user name and optionally the ADO owner's contactaddress. The ADO owner is the ACMAN user who has write permission tomodify a specific instance of an ADO stored in his or another user'smachine area. It is important to note that the ADO owner user name mightnot be the same user name as the Activity Idea Originator's user name.This will be seen in later examples in this disclosure. It is notnecessary that the OUNA field 1224 contain either or both of a user nameand an address of that user. Only a reference or pointer to indicate theowner user name might be needed. For instance, the owner user name mightbe stored in some other storage location, and only a reference to thatstorage location might be needed. Similarly, the owner's contact addressmight be referenced to a different storage location. In one embodiment,even an indication of the ADO owner's contact address is not included infield 1224, as long as an ACMAN system has a means of obtaining the ADOowner's contact address as a function of the ADO owner user name, forwhen transmissions of that ADO's common-idea-tied, embedded, and updatedADO might be needed. Then the ACMAN system can lookup the contactaddress of the user name owner of the foyered ADO, and can send anupdated copy of the embedded common-idea-tied ADO to that contactaddress. This will be described more later.

Note that an ACMAN system might maintain a contact address table thatmaps user names to their respective contact address(es). Anytime theACMAN system encounters a new user name, it may attempt to update thisuser name to contact address(es) table. Such an address may be an emailaddress or addresses, an ftp address, an instant messenger address, orany other type of internet or network address(es) that would allow oneparticipant to successfully message another participant. In this manner,the user name component of ADO ID's together with this contact table canprovide the sufficient information to communicate and identify how andwhere to update or share any Activity Data Object.

The “Activity Tree User Name” (ATUN) field 1225 indicates the user nameof the activity tree that an ADO is part of. If an ADO is embedded in agiven user's activity tree, then the ATUN indicates a user name equal tothat of the ACMAN system user. If the ADO is a foyered ADO (i.e. ownedby someone else) rather than an embedded AO, then the ATUN mightindicate some user name other than the user name of the given ACMANsystem machine area. In one embodiment, this ATUN field 1225 may not benecessary since the OUNA field (1224) might indicate the sameinformation. However, in other embodiments, which will be describedlater, this ATUN field 1225 might be useful a) if direct write access isprovided to another user even for one's embedded ADO or b) in certainsituations where 3 or more users may be involved in a Delegated sharedactivity.

In one embodiment, the combination of the CIER 1222 field and the “OwnerUser Name” (OUN) component of the OUNA 1224 field are sufficient todistinctly identify ADOs in order to share and and/or update ADOs; theLID, ATUN, and IOUNA fields are only optional since they may not providenew information about an ADO that cannot be inferred as a function ofCIER and OUN. For instance, if the Common Idea Expression Reference(CIER) contains the same Idea Originator User Name that might also be inthe IOUNA field 1223, then a separate IOUNA field may not be required.Furthermore, if the user name indicated in the OUNA field 1224 is notthe same user name as the licensed user of a given runtime license ofthe ACMAN system, then it can be inferred by the machine that the ADOmight be a foyered ADO, and not embedded in the user's activity tree. Inthis example, the OUNA field could indicate which user's activity treein one's local machine area the ADO instance resides within. Since theCIER already indicates a reference of an original activity ideaexpression, and the OUNA indicates the specific activity tree withinone's local machine area, the LID provides no further uniqueidentification and is therefore not required. On the other hand, it willbe seen later that in embodiments exhibiting more advanced capabilitiesand/or faster system query performance, the LID, ATUN, and IOUNA arehelpful, and sometimes the CIER plus OUNA fields alone would beinsufficient to achieve certain security and/or ADO sharing features.

In one embodiment, for Activity Data Objects that a user has shared withother participants (as opposed to just being the recipient of a sharingrequest), there is a section within the ADO data structure that cancontain the summary Outbound Sharing Status 1243, as well as a typicallylarger section 1226 containing the corresponding Participant SharingDetails. Section 1226 may include information about who an ADO has beenshared to by the owning user, as previously described in FIG. 7. ThisParticipant Sharing Details section 1226 might include identificationsof all participants Max might have shared an ADO with, including peopleto whom he may have delegated (Dg), WorkShared (WS), or even just FYIShared (FYI) an activity data object. If another receiving participantdid not yet respond to an ADO he received from Max, an entrycorresponding to the target recipient, such as 1229-1 might exist inthis Participant Sharing Details section 1226 of Max's embedded ADO, andit might indicate a ShareStatus value of Waiting”. In this manner, Max'ssystem could continue to automatically provide updates to allparticipants of his shared activity data object, regardless of whetherthey have accepted it yet. This section 1226 might include a variableindicating how many other participants 1226 a Max invited to share inhis original activity idea expression. For the n invited participants,the respective data fields 1229-1 through 1229-n might include therespective Participants' Local ADO IDs (PIDs) (or if not fully known, atleast the PID might contain the participants' user name(s)), theShareType established with each such other participant, and the SharingStatus for each such other participant (as explained in FIG. 7). ThePIDs in the respective data fields 1229-1 through 1229-n might indicateeach respective invited participant's User Name within the ParticipantLocal ADO ID. Coupled with a contact address table (as in 319 of FIG.3), such information might be sufficient for an ACMAN system to be ableto transmit data containing signals to the contact address(es) of therespective ADO participants. Additionally or alternatively, although notshown in FIG. 12A, each of the data fields 1229-1 through 1229-n mightdirectly include their respective participant's contact address. Thismight reduce the need for a possible contact table in this case.

Referring briefly back to FIG. 13, 1304 a and 1304 b illustrate possibleexamples of a LID and a CIER, respectively, for the Activity Data Objectrepresented by 1306. This diagram illustrates foyered ADOs and embeddedADOs on Max's machine area. This diagram also indicates, for eachillustrated ADO, possible contents of some of the ADO data structurefields from FIG. 12A. For instance, 1310 and 1310 a indicate “LID”,which corresponds to the Local ADO ID field 1221 from FIG. 12A.Likewise, 1311 and 1311 a indicate “CIER”, which corresponds to theCommon Idea Expression Reference field 1222 from FIG. 12A; 1312 and 1312a indicate “OUN”, or the Owner User Name which corresponds to part ofthe Owner User Name & Address field 1224 from FIG. 12A. In thisembodiment shown in FIG. 13, 1304 a is the LID for ADO 1306. 1304 aincludes user name “Max” plus ADO serial reference code “8”, while CIER1304 b includes user name “Adam” plus ADO serial number “4”. Max's ACMANsystem logically can determine that when it receives an ADO 1313 fromsome outside machine, possibly on the internet, that the ADO indicates aCommon Idea Expression Reference (CIER) of “Adam.4” (1314 b), that itcorresponds to both ADO 1306 and ADO 1307, since they are the only ADOsin Max's Machine Area containing that CIER value. Because the Owner UserName 1314 c contained in the Owner User Name & Address (OUNA) field(1224 from FIG. 12A) is “Adam”, Max's ACMAN system can determine that itshould automatically update 1315 ADO 1306, which is in Adam's activitytree 1301 on Max's Machine Area, with the contents of this received,updated ADO D” 1313. The Activity Data Object 1306 can be updatedaccordingly. In one embodiment, Max's ACMAN system also can logicallydetermine that if Max has made a change to his embedded and shared ADO1307, that it should transmit an update message to the user indicated inthe CIER reference 1305 b.

In addition or instead, if Max had also previously shared this ADO 1307to some other participant(s), Max's ACMAN system could, in oneembodiment, use information contained within ADO 1307 from theParticipant Sharing Details section 1226 of the ADO data structure(shown in FIG. 12A) to determine what user(s) to transmit ADO updatesto. If Max had shared this ADO to other participants and they hadalready responded, then Max might have ADO entries for thecommon-idea-tied foyered ADOs that were stored in local copies of theseparticipants' activity tree(s) in Max's machine area. In an alternativeembodiment, Max's ACMAN system could look up the user name references inthose foyered ADO instances on Max's local system to determine who tosend updates to.

In any case, given a set of user names, Max's ACMAN system might in oneembodiment lookup the internet or network address for each suchparticipant user name, such as “Adam”, in the contact address table(such as illustrated in FIG. 3 in 319 and/or 332), and transmit theupdated Activity Data Object to each such address. When Adam's machinereceives this ADO update, it could determine that it should update itsfoyered ADO in Max's activity tree in Adam's machine area whose CIERmatches “Adam.4”, as implied in CIER 1305 b.

Referring back to FIG. 12A, there may be variations to the sharingschemes and ADO data structure above that may make it desirable toinclude an LID (Local ADO ID) 1221, an ATUN (Activity Tree User Name)indicator 1225, and/or an IOUNA (Idea Originator User Name & Address)1223 field, in addition to the CIER (Common Idea Expression Reference)1222 field and the OUN portion of the OUNA (Owner User Name & Address)1224 field. For example, for security purposes, another level ofauthenticity can be enjoyed if a user's system, say Max's system, canaccess the LID of a participant's transmitted ADO, rather than just theCIER. For instance, let's suppose that Max's system already possessed afoyered copy of an ADO that had been already shared by Adam to Max. Ifsometime later a hacker pretending to be Adam tried to send an update toMax corresponding to the activity idea expression of this ADO (i.e. witha matching CIER), that hacker or intruder would not necessarily be ableto know the LID of Adam's originally sent ADO. If Max's systemautomatically compared the LID 1221 value of its local ADO copy versusthe LID value of the incoming ADO from the hacker, Max's system coulddecide to quarantine or delete the incoming ADO since it could see thatthe two LID's did not match. In addition, system performance may beenhanced by using LIDs. Since, in one embodiment, all ADOs on a user'ssystem have LIDs containing that user's user name coupled with a uniquelocal ADO serial reference code, any database indexes of ADOs onlyreally need to contain the ADO serial reference code portion of the LID(or at least just the LID). On the other hand, without an LID, acomplete CIER plus an OUN (from field 1224) might be required in adatabase index to identify a specific ADO instance on a user's localsystem. Without an LID, there may be larger memory requirements as wellas more complexity in the database structural implementation and insystem testing.

Regarding the value of the IOUNA field 1223, consider a possible examplein which an ADO is created by Adam through his ACMAN system, then sharedfrom Adam to Max, and then again shared from Max to Harry. In oneembodiment, if Harry then modifies his embedded ADO, an update ADO copyis automatically sent to the machine area indicated by the OUNA 1224 ofthe common-idea-tied foyered ADO(s) (i.e. foyered ADOs with the sameCIER) on Harry's machine area. In this embodiment, this OUNA wouldindicate Max by default. In an alternative embodiment, however, Harry'ssystem may update either or both of the original activity idea author,Adam, and the user who immediately shared the ADO with him, Max.Furthermore, it might be Max and/or Adam who should have authority toupdate their foyered common-idea-tied ADOs on Harry's local machinearea. Here, the Owner User Name and the Idea Originator User Name(contained in the OUNA 1224 and IOUNA 1223 fields respectively) shouldbe distinct variables-the OUNA is Max and is not the same as the IOUNA,Adam. Here an IOUNA, which indicates Adam and Adam's contact address,may be needed in addition to the OUNA in order to ensure the creator ofthe original activity idea expression, Adam, is updated in addition tothe immediate sharer of the activity data object, Max. In an alternativeto this embodiment, Harry's ACMAN system might create 2 foyered copiesof the ADO he received from Max-one indicating Max as the OUN, and theother indicating Adam as the OUN. In such an alternative, Harry'smachine area might possess 3 common-idea-tied ADOs on his local machine,instead of just 2: (1) his embedded ADO, (2) his foyered ADO with Max asthe OUNA, and possibly (3) his foyered ADO with Adam as the OUNA. Butwithout some indication within Max's transmitted ADO that Adam was theIdea Originator of the shared activity idea expression, and without someknowledge of Adam's contact address, Harry's ACMAN system would not beable to conceive of the 3^(rd) ADO, and Harry's system might not haveknowledge of a machine area address for which to directly transmitupdates to Adam's machine area. (These concepts will be describedfurther in FIG. 18A and FIG. 18B.)

In another embodiment, Max may share an ADO with Harry, Harry may causehis system to create a derived and embedded copy on his machine, andHarry may further cause his system allow Max to update even thisembedded ADO on Harry's system. For instance, Max may share some ADO toHarry. Harry may give permission to Max to have priority write controlover even Harry's embedded copy of the ADO, so that Max could forinstance increment Harry's priority or change the due date for the ADOon Harry's system, despite the changes Harry may have chosen already.Here, the OUNA for the embedded ADO on Harry's system might actually beMax, instead of the default of the local machine user, Harry. In thiscase, the Activity Tree User Name 1225 field might be needed sinceotherwise the ACMAN system might not be able to tell which ADOs areembedded in the ACMAN system user's tree by just checking to see if theOUNA is the same as the local user's user name. An LID 1221 might alsobe very helpful in this scenario for database efficiency and ACMANsoftware testing simplicity. In order to identify the specific ADO amongthe plurality of ADOs on the machine area, since both the embedded andthe foyered instances of such common-idea-tied ADOs here might have thesame CIER, the same IOUNA, and the same OUNA, the only practical way(other than storage address) to identify the uniqueness of locallystored ADOs might be the combination of CIER and ATUN. As mentionedearlier, database queries and indexing can be made simpler and moreefficient by storing a unique LID field 1221 to uniquely identify eachADO on a given local machine area.

Continuing on with our description of the ADO data structure 1220 b ofFIG. 12A, ADO attribute section 1231 may contain an object creation timeindicator and/or a random or pseudo-random number since. It is possiblefor a non-uniqueness to occur in the ADO's Idea Originator User Name1223 or in the ADO's Owner User Name 1224 and the resulting activitydata object identifications because users may fail to utilize auniqueness guaranteeing service such as APEX 1470 (FIG. 14). Theoptional random number of attribute section 1231 increases thelikelihood that ADO's from different users will nonetheless be uniquelyidentifiable. Such an optional random number can also be useful forvalidating the integrity of the ADO 1220 b when the ADO is transmittedover an unsecured network. For example, an owner's digital signature1255 may include an encryption of 1231 and therefore the randomness offield 1231 may be used to better validate the integrity of a transmittedobject. ADO attribute section 1232 may contain a timestamp indicatingwhen the content or any attributes of the ADO were last modified, aswell as optionally a timestamp of when the ADO was last transmitted toother participants. In an alternative embodiment, the “Last ADOModification Time” of 1232 would only reflect such modifications to theADO that would require updates to be sent to other participants. Inanother embodiment, rather than just a single record contained in 1232,there may be multiple distinct records of “Last ADO Sync Time”pertaining to each of the ADO participants, so that ADO transmissionswould not need to be sent unnecessarily to every participant at everysynchronization (a.k.a. transmission sending) event. As just oneexample, Charlie might share an activity description with Adam, and hisACMAN system may have transmitted that ADO to Adam's machine areaaddress. Later, Charlie might choose to also share that same ActivityDescription with Max, although he might have changed nothing else aboutthe ADO except new ADO Sharing Details pertaining to Max in section1226. It might be unnecessary for Charlie's system to retransmit the ADOto Adam, even though a transmission to Max would be necessary. If thisADO (or Charlie's ACMAN system) maintained a recording of “Last ADO SyncTime” per each participant of the ADO, then Charlie's ACMAN system couldmore efficiently transmit an update to Max instead of to both Max andAdam.

In one embodiment, each ADO 1220 b is stored as a separate file ordatabase record under an operating system (OS) of the computer. In sucha case, the OS may provide in one of its directories, the file creationtime 1231 and/or last file modification time 1232 and the OS mayguarantee a unique file identification 1221 for the ADO file as may beappropriate. Accordingly, a generic Activity Data Object does not needto necessarily contain within itself some of the attributes listed here.Another entity can provide those attributes as long as they logicallyattach in some way to the Activity Data Object.

Attribute section 1233 may contain a Long Activity Descriptor Field.“Long” is a relative term, but the basic idea in one embodiment, is thatin the structured activities presentation area (recall FIG. 6A) the LongActivity Descriptor field 1233 corresponds to the many examples shown in616. Ideally, a user may want try to keep Long Activity Descriptorfields brief enough to fit on one line, although that is not required.Further details about an ADO can easily be included in the journalpresentation area, and extra-journal links between the ADO and a JournalData Item (JDI) can be easily created. The Short Activity DescriptorField (SADF) 1234, may be just an abbreviated or shorter version of thelonger describing expression of the activity represented by ADO 1220 b.The corresponding activity description of node 1220 may be presented toa user in one or both of a shorter form 1234 and a comparatively longerdescription form 1233. The short form (1233) would typically be usedwhen the nodes are shown in a graphic presentation mode (see FIG. 8)rather than in tabular or spreadsheet mode (see FIG. 6A). Each ADO ownermay decide for him or herself what constitutes a useful shortdescription of the nodal activity data object and what constitutes along description. In one embodiment, at least one of the long activitydescriptor field or the SADF section (1233 or 1234) must be filled in,and the ACMAN system may then automatically generate the contents of theother section. For example, if only the long description is initiallyfilled in (e.g., by the user), the computer program may select the firstfew words of the long activity descriptor as constituting the shortactivity descriptor. Or the software may look for and parse out certaingrammatical constructs within the long description to fill in the shortactivity data object name. For example, many long descriptions include averb and a direct object, such as “Collect papers from Paul and SafeCo”.By pulling out just these elements (verb and direct object), a shortname of “Collect papers” can be automatically generated. In the otherdirection, if the user has generated short symbols for various conceptsin a local dictionary, the system may automatically expand thoseabbreviated symbols into long descriptions in section 1233. The concepthere is to make it as easy and as inviting as possible for users to fillin the activity describing portions of the Activity Data Object.

Section 1235 is a Boolean variable, “Category-Only” indicating whetheror not the given Activity Data Object is actually to be used as adescription of a specific activity idea or just a placeholder of acategory of activity ideas. Consider that this here disclosed ACMANsystem may be based on a hierarchical structure of activities, in whichactivities may have supporting sub-activities, or child activities, thatsupport their parent activities. This can be implemented with an objectoriented programming methodology. This creates a scalable system thatreflects the nature of both individual and group thought and activityplanning. But consider also that some activities can be thought of asthings that one would “do”, while others can really be categories ofactivities or groupings. In one embodiment, category-only activities canbe automatically excluded from to do list presentations of activitydescriptions. For example, the activity data object shown with a ShortActivity Data Object Name of “Personal” in FIG. 8 (878) is not somethingone would do. It really is a description or category of other childactivities that is useful for organizing a set of activities and/orplans. On the other hand, “Refinance House” 871 b is something one mightactually go and “do” in the real world outside of one's computer. Thatactivity data object also may have child ADOs. Although those child ADOsare not illustrated in FIG. 8, they are shown in FIG. 6A. For instance,“Investigate mortgage brokers” 623 in FIG. 6A is indicated as a childactivity of “Refinance house” (as shown on the same row within theparent hierarchy section 611). So any activity data object may becreated for the sole purpose of organizing, or categorizing, child ADOs.When the activities pane is displayed in graphical mode, as in FIG. 8,it is useful to display expressions of activity data objects whether ornot they are categories. But when the activities pane is displayed inspreadsheet mode, as in FIG. 6A, it may be useful to optionally remove“Category-Only” type activity data objects from the Activity Descriptionpresentation listing 610. For instance, as can be seen in the example ofFIG. 6A, “Investigate mortgage brokers” 623 is presented in column 616,but “Personal”, which might only be a category, might not be displayedin this column 616 presentation area. Of course, category ADOs such as“Personal” may still be included in the Primary Hierarchy Node Path 611,as illustrated in the parent hierarchy section 611 of the line 628.Furthermore, (returning back to FIG. 12A) Category-Only ADOs contain thesame attributes 1220 b that any other activity data object mightcontain. This “Category-Only” field 1235 is simply an optional fieldthat a user may optionally choose to take advantage of.

Sections 1236, 1237, 1238, and 1239 may contain pointers or otherreferences to Activity Data Objects within a user's embedded activitytree. (Additionally, section 1245, which will be described more later,may be used to provide pointers to foyered ADOs, some of which aredescribed as foyered parent ADOs.) Section 1236 may contain the pointerto the primary parent ADO (Activity Data Object) of the current ADO.Such references to other ADOs may in one embodiment be in the form ofeither the Local ADO ID (LID) or the Common Idea Expression Reference(CIER), of the pointed to Activity Data Object. For example, pointer1215 is the reference from node 1220 to its primary parent node 1210.Section 1237 may contain one or more pointers or other references tosecondary parents such as represented at 1216. Section 1237 may also beheaded by an indicator indicating the number of secondary parents. Thisnumber can be zero or greater. Section 1238 may contain pointers orother references to the primary child(ren) of the current node 1220. Forinstance, 1214 may be a primary child pointer from ADO 1210 to 1220.This section 1238 can include an indicator (not shown) indicating thenumber of primary children. This number can be zero or greater. Section1239 in a similar vein may contain pointers or other references tosecondary children of the current node. This section also may bepreceded by an indicator indicating how many such secondary childrenexist. There may be zero, one or more such secondary children. Note thatin one embodiment, the ACMAN system would not include hierarchicalrelationships and therefore sections 1236 through 1239 would not beincluded in the ADO structure. Note also that in an embodiment that doesinclude hierarchical relationships, ADO trees and/or other hierarchicalADO relationships can be sufficiently constructed with only one of theparent pointer fields (1236 and/or 1237) and the child pointer fields(1238 and/or 1239).

Attribute section 1240 may contain an indication of how manyextra-journal links there are between the current activity node andjournal data items (e.g., 1228). This number may be zero or greater.Section 1240 may further contain pointers or other references whichidentify the individual journal data items to which extra-journal linksare made. In the case of activity node 1220, extra-journal link 1228 maylink with the journal data item 1292 a which in turn is grouped with twoother JDIs. Alternatively (and not shown in this example), 1240 couldhave indicated that there were three extra journal links, and 1228 couldhave instead had three extra-journal links to 1292 a, 1292 b, and 1292 crespectively, whether or not there was an intra-journal grouping list1227.

Section 1241 may contain an indication of what the owner (e.g., Max) ofthe activity data object believes is his or her priority for theactivity data object. In one embodiment, illustrated in column 612 (FIG.6A), this is graphically indicated by using different numbers of dots orasterisks, depending on the priority level. Such graphicalrepresentations are more rapidly perceived and processed by the eye andhuman brain than are numerals. In one embodiment, Max could type thenumber “3”, and 3 dots may be presented, or alternatively he could type“ * * * ” (3 asterisks) and the same 3 dots may appear, regardless ofthe form or format such information is stored in on Max's local machinearea.

Section 1242 contains an indication of the Activity Data Object Status,i.e., what the ADO owner (e.g., Max) considers to be the status of theunderlying activity represented by the ADO 1220. Different participantsof a shared activity idea expression may have different perceptions, andthus different ADOs on a user's local machine may indicate different ADOStatuses even though they may indicate the same CIER. Max may believethe job is “Done” while Adam designates the job as still “Active”. Therespective embedded versus foyered copies of ADOs on Max's machine wouldthen contain different values in their respective ADO Status sections1242. An automated program may be used to spot common-idea-tied foyeredvs. embedded ADO's (two or more ADO's whose CIERs, e.g. sections 1222,are the same, indicating that they refer to the same shared activityidea) that have different status designations, and to report thedifference to the corresponding owners. Max may find it useful tounderstand why Adam considers the job to be still Active when Maxthought it was Done. In one embodiment, each ADO Status section 1242 maycontain one state value from a defined set of mutually exclusive statevalues that can describe an activity's status. A non-limiting set ofexamples of what ADO Status indications may be used includes:

-   (a) “Active” (optionally shown as “A” or just left blank in FIG. 6A,    613) to indicate that the ADO owner thinks the represented activity    is currently active;-   (b) “Tentative” (optionally shown as “T”) to indicate that the    represented activity is not yet being carried out and is not    cancelled but that the ADO owner is still thinking about how to    describe or plan the activity-   (c) “Cancelled” (optionally shown as “X”) to indicate that the plans    for the represented activity have been abandoned by the ADO owner;-   (d) “Pending” (optionally shown as “P”) to indicate that the    engagement in or the completion of the represented activity is    pending something beyond the ADO owner's direct control, i.e.    pending some action by someone or something else;-   (e) “Forwarded” (optionally shown as “F”) to indicate that the    engagement in or the completion of the represented activity is    forwarded, or deferred, to a later time;-   (f) “Continuous” (optionally shown as “O”) to indicate that the    represented activity is not expected to have a completion, but    rather that the activity is a continuous, or ongoing, activity that    is repeated or has no completion milestone. (This may be an activity    like “Maintain the coffee machine”.)-   (g) “Done” (optionally shown as “D”) to indicate that the action has    already been performed as far as the ADO owner is concerned.

Section 1243 contains an indication of the “Outbound Sharing Status” andsection 1244 contains an indication of the “Inbound Sharing Status”. The“Outbound Sharing Status” section 1243 may be displayed in column 614(FIG. 6A) in the structured spreadsheet ADO presentation area. The“Outbound Sharing Status” is an outbound summary indication for thegiven ADO related to explicit sharing from the owning user to otherusers to whom he has shared an expression of the ADO. As described in703 a (FIG. 7), the “Outbound Sharing Status” summarizes the type ofsharing that might exist among the receiving participant(s) that Max hasexplicitly transmitted and shared his ADOs to. The displayed statussummary may be one of several descriptive states, possibly including NotShared (possibly presented as a blank field), Sent, WorkShared (WS),Delegated (Dg), or For Your Information (FYI).

The “Inbound Sharing Status” section 1244 indicates inbound sharinginformation. Relative to the machine area owned by a first user, thissection is typically relevant for ADOs corresponding to activity ideaexpressions received from a second user and wherein the second user isthe author of the original activity idea expression, and wherein the ADOis recorded on the first user's machine area. Section 1244 mightindicate a) the type of sharing (None, Delegated, WorkShared, FYI; orsupervisor sharing) that the immediate sharing user requested (i.e.,explicitly, or implicitly in the case of supervisor sharing) as well asb) the type of acceptance response that Max's machine has reported backto the user who immediately shared the given ADO with him (and/or to theIdea Originator of the Activity Idea). A non-limiting set of examples ofwhat “Inbound Sharing Status” acceptance response indications might beused includes:

-   (a) “No Reply” to indicate that if a request for sharing has been    received, that no reply to the sharer has been transmitted.-   (b) “Undecided” to indicate that acceptance of participation in the    represented activity is undecided or is just not definite yet-   (c) “Denied” to indicate the acceptance of participation in the    represented activity has been denied by the recipient.-   (d) “Accepted” to indicate that the recipient has sent acceptance of    participation in the represented activity to the sender of the    request.    As an example, refer briefly back to Activity Data Object    expressions D and D′ (1306 and 1307) of FIG. 13, where Adam sent Max    a request to review Adam's expense report, and Max accepted the    delegated sharing request. The “Inbound Sharing Status” section 1244    for Max's foyered D (1306) might indicate a sharing type of    “Delegated”. For Max's embedded D′, the “Inbound Sharing Status”    section 1244 might also indicate a sharing type of “Delegated”, and    Max's acceptance response indication of “Accepted”.

Referring back to FIG. 6A, for the typical case in which Max may sharehis activity data object with one or more participants, column 614 mightindicate an “Outbound Sharing Status” summary pertaining to theparticipants that Max has shared the ADO expression to. In oneembodiment, column 614 may instead display the Sharing Type indicator ofthe “Inbound Sharing Status” section (1244 in FIG. 12A) for ADOs thathave been shared from others to Max (inbound) and not shared from Max toothers (outbound). Column 614 might indicate that the activity dataobject is a received, or inbound, ADO, possibly by a color coding, oradditionally or alternatively by a symbol such as an upward pointingarrow, followed by the “Inbound Sharing Status” Sharing Type. (This isnot shown in FIG. 6A.) In an alternative embodiment, column 614 onlydisplays a sharing status of any kind for outbound shared ADOs; but Maxcan in any number of other ways view the current “Inbound SharingStatus” indications, for instance by right clicking on the SharingStatus cell, or clicking on the Sharing Status for a popup windowshowing such details, etc.

Returning to FIG. 12A, the Foyered Parent Pointer(s) (FPP) section 1245is similar to the Primary Parent Pointer attribute 1236, except thatinstead of referencing a parent ADO within the Max's embedded activitytree, it may be a reference to one or more ADOs that are part of afoyered activity tree (stored on the Max's local machine area),indicating that the ADO of 1220 supports or should be considered a childactivity of a foyered ADO. The FPP is typically most useful for FYIshared ADOs. In the possible example of FIG. 13, Adam sent Max aWorkSharing request. Max then accepted it, and as a result, his machineheld two common-idea-tied ADOs: 1306, the foyered ADO, and 1307, theembedded ADO. In contrast, if Charlie sent Max, as well as 100 othercompany employees, an FYI shared activity data object, such as anactivity data object expressing a Corporate MBO, Max very likely mightnot accept or deny it. Rather he might leave the copy of the sharedobject on his machine as a foyered Activity Data Object for futurereference, but there would be no common-idea-tied ADO in Max's embeddedactivity tree. If Max were later to create some activity data object ofhis own (in some part of his embedded activity tree) that might tosupport (whether intentionally or not) Charlie's FYI shared CorporateMBO, then Max could create a Foyered Parent Pointer association betweenhis activity data object and Charlie's activity data object.

In one embodiment, an embedded activity data object can have one or moreFPPs. In an alternative embodiment, an ADO can have one primary FPP; andif there is one primary FPP, there may be any number of secondary FPPs.

In a another embodiment, in addition to or instead of one or moreFoyered Parent Pointer field(s) 1245 within ADO structure 1220 b, theremay also be a very similar Foyered Child Pointer(s) (FCP) section. Thisis not shown in FIG. 12A. But just as a FPP may include one or morereferences to Foyered Parent ADOs, an FCP region may include one or morereferences to Foyered Child ADOs. This can be useful for database stylequeries of embedded ADOs (say, for Charlie's machine area, FYI sharedCorporate MBOs in the example above) to more quickly determine whatfoyered child ADOs may exist for a given embedded ADO than might bepossible if only FPP data structures were stored.

Another set of attributes common to activity data objects is that of therepresented activity's time schedule(s) 1250. This can include when arepresented activity was started (“Start Date”); when it might be due(“Due Date”); and when it might have actually been completed(“Completion Time”). When an ADO is created, the ADO “Creation Time”1231 may be set automatically to that time (e.g. a time mark mightinclude the date, hour, minute, and second). Concurrently, the “StartDate” value in 1250 may be set to the creation date. A user may ifdesired directly modify the recorded Start Date however. This isparticularly useful for Max if he is planning out activities into thefuture, but does not want to clutter his activities list (616 in FIG.6A) with activities he intentionally does not want to start until alater date. By Max's setting the Activity Data Object Status 1242 to“Forward”, Max's ACMAN system might, as a default, hide the activitydata object representation from the selection-filtered activity listpresentation area. If the start date 1250 is set for a date in thefuture, then when that future date is passed, ACMAN can automaticallychange the ADO Status 1242 from “Forward” to “Active”, and it may bedisplayed in the default selection-filtered presentations of Max'sregular activities list again. If a user wishes to specify a Due Datefor completion of the represented activity, he may do so, but this maynot be a requirement. Lastly, when a user completes a representedactivity, he or she would change the ADO Status 1242 (which is displayedin FIG. 6A, column 613) to “Done”, or some value that indicatescompletion of the activity. A timestamp may then be automaticallywritten to the “Completion Time” variable of 1250. Note that in order toencourage productivity and “jazz up” the atmosphere for the user,whenever a user changes an ADO Status 1242 to “Done”, a celebratorycartoon or video and/or an upbeat and entertaining sound or audio clipmight play briefly.

Occasionally, different people have to be sent reminders aboutimplementation or further development of a given activity or relatedactivities. Section 1251 may include reminders to oneself and/or toothers about an activity, as well as reminder times upon which ACMANshould issue such a reminder. For instance, an embedded ADO on Max'smachine, 1251 may include a reminder to Max as well as to all theparticipants of that ADO so that on Sep. 5, 2003 at 10:00am, Max's ACMANsystem issues a reminder to check the weather forecast and prepareappropriately for the offsite meeting scheduled for that afternoon. Thisreminder may be in the form of an email, an Instant Messenger message, anet send message, a voice mail if the system has such capabilities, orany other form of automated communication possible from one machine toanother. In one embodiment, 1251 may also include a historical record ofindicators of which reminders had been sent to whom and what the statusis of each such reminder. Alternatively section 1251 may reference atable that contains such information.

There may be times when the implementation or another aspect of one ormore other activities must precede implementation of the currentrepresented activity (1220). There are times when the currentrepresented activity has subsequent dependencies which are waiting forimplementation or other development of the current activity of currentnode 1220. Attribute section 1252 is optional and it contains pointersor references to ADOs of the precedent and/or subsequent dependencyactivity nodes that relate to the current activity node, as well as thetype of precedent and/or subsequent dependency. For instance, there maybe four dependency types: sometimes activity B cannot begin untilactivity A is done (a.k.a. finished), sometimes activity B cannot finishuntil activity A is done, sometimes activity B cannot start untilactivity A has started, sometimes activity B cannot finish untilactivity A has started. A user may access expressions of this ADOsection 1252 to discover what other nodes of his hierarchy tree and/oranother user's hierarchy tree (i.e. foyered ADOs) constitute precedentor subsequent dependencies to the present node 1220.

The owner (e.g., Max) of the Activity Data Object 1220 b may want tokeep specific activities or branches of activities private from everyoneelse, or from a set of people. Such a scheme was described in detailearlier in FIG. 11. Max may be willing to permit agent visitation (seebriefly 203″ of FIG. 2) and/or supervisory monitoring (see briefly 101″of FIG. 2) by a select group of people identified in corresponding whitelists for such activities. The ADO owner may alternatively be willing tolet anyone who wants, to see this activity data object 1220 b. Attributesection 1253 contains privacy level indicators, and in cases whendesired, optional privacy level exception settings, for managing suchprivacy issues for ADOs, as illustrated in FIG. 11, as in 1191 a or 1172c. The optional settings may include respective pointers or otherreferences to white lists that identify which external users can havetheir peeking agents (e.g., 203″ in FIG. 2) peeking in on this node andall its parents, grandparents, etc. and which users have supervisorymonitoring privileges for getting automatic transmissions of this nodeand optionally its parents, grandparents, etc. and/or associated journaldata items.

There are also security issues which may be managed from parametersinside attribute section 1253. When an derived copy of an ADO (e.g.,1220 b) is transmitted from its owner's machine area to the machineareas of other persons, the contents within the transmitted ADO couldpossibly be spied on by third parties and/or deceptively altered by suchthird parties. It may be desirable to encrypt some of the ADOinformation (e.g., fields 1225, 1226, 1240 to 1252, or virtually anyattribute or content of an ADO). All these selectable options may behandled by security and/or privacy attributes contained within section1253.

Attribute section 1254 contains presentation control indicators formanaging how a graphical icon for the activity node may be presented ina graphical tree presentation (e.g., see FIG. 8). Additionally oralternatively, the ADO owner may have personal preferences regardingvarious attributes including what shape, color, etc. should be impartedto the icon used for schematically representing the node. By way ofexample, the node could be presented as a 2D circle, square, rectangle,hexagon or other 2D geometric shape or as a planarized projection of a3D object such as sphere, cube, etc. The node-representing icon may havethe short activity descriptor field representation positioned inside theicon or just outside the icon (e.g., just below it). The text for eachactivity node icon may have its own background or foreground color. Theuser may also have preferences for the relative location of certainactivity-node representing icons. While the activity tree is displayedin a fully expanded mode, the system may leave the icon in a relativeposition offset from the primary parent icon as last established by theuser, or if no such preference is indicated, the system mayautomatically arrange the relative location of icons to be in an orderlygrid or otherwise. These preferences may be specified in attributesection 1254.

It is possible that a transmitted ADO (1220 b) may be intercepted andtampered with while in transit from an owner's machine area to arecipient's machine area. Some activity data objects or attributes ofsome activity data objects may convey very important information thatthe owner does not want to be changed or spied upon. Therefore the ownermay wish to apply his private digital signature over the activity dataobject or over critical sections (e.g. encrypted sections) of theactivity data object. As is known in the security art, a digitalsignature may be formed by hashing the covered fields and thenencrypting them using the signors' private encryption key. The owner'spublic encryption key may then be used to uncover the hash and compareit against the hash of the received message. In one embodiment, the ADOowner's digital signature 1255 covers at least sections 1221 to 1234. Tounderstand why this is important, consider the case where longdescriptor section 1233 contains a message such as (in plaintext form)“buy 25 units of product X531 at a price of $150.00 per unit.” Thecreator would not want this message to be corrupted and changed withrespect to material items such price, quantity and identity of thegoods. A digital signature would help to guard against such tampering.The digital signature does not have to be embedded in the ADO 1220 bitself. Activity data objects may sometimes be transmitted in groupsrather than singularly. Therefore, the owner's digital signature 1255may be located outside of a group of activity data objects and may coverthe collective sections 1221 to 1234 of all of the transmitted objectsin the group. Tampering with any one of those objects will usuallyresult in a mismatch between the uncovered hash and the received hash.

In one embodiment, users might specify their own custom ADO fields. Forinstance, while standard ADO fields might include an ADO priority 1241of a specific standard definition, some users might prefer to definetheir own types of priorities. Max might prefer to maintain informationabout activity importance as well as activity urgency, while Adam mightprefer to have a simple priority level as in 1241. Another user, Harry,might prefer to use his own set of controlled field types that differsfrom a standard implementation. For instance, a standard implementationof the ADO priority field 1241 might include 3 levels. Harry mightprefer to use a 5 point scale instead. The range of possible othercustom fields might be infinite, but some examples of fields that someusers might want to create could include budget amount, estimated timeto complete, percent complete, custom flag fields, resources required, afield using a custom set of activity statuses, etc. If a user, Max,wanted to create a given custom field just for his own use, he coulddefine it in his ACMAN system and cause his system to record that on hismachine area and to present that indicated information to Max asappropriate. If Max then shared a given ADO with another user, thatcustom field he created for his own machine area use, might not beincluded in the derived copy that Max's ACMAN system might transmit tothe other user. However, if Max wanted to create a custom field type andshare it with one or more other users, those other users' systems wouldneed to have knowledge about the definition and processing (includingpresentation) rules pertaining to that custom field. In one embodiment,described in FIG. 14, a central service (1477) might provide a customfield registration service, which might include provision of sharedcustom field definition information with a pool of sharing users, aswell as a registered field identifier code for that custom fielddefinition. In such an embodiment, if a custom field is registered, thenif Max causes his system to share an ADO with one or more other users,that field might be included even in the derived transmitted copy (andthat field identifier code might also be included in the section 1257 ofthat transmitted ADO). If Max happened to share that ADO with a user,say Harry, whose ACMAN system was not participating in the centralregistration service (1477), then Harry's machine might ignore therespective portion of his received ADO that includes the custom field,but might record and appropriately process the rest of the ADO data. Onthe other hand, if Max shared the activity description with anotherregistered participant of the service 1477 (FIG. 14), then that otheruser's machine could appropriately receive, record, and process(including display and cause further modifications) that field in thereceived ADO.

FIG. 12C is a diagram showing an alternative embodiment to thepreviously described embodiment of FIG. 12A. It is intended toillustrate just one other possible data structure for an activity dataobject, as well as to illustrate some examples of differences in ACMANsystem design that would be in accordance with this disclosure. Forinstance, instead of each ADO including a Common Idea ExpressionReference field as in FIG. 12A (1222), a table 1222′ of Local ADO IDs1221′ versus Common Idea Expression References might be stored insomewhere on a given user's machine area, e.g. in the Activities Folder315 of FIG. 3. One table could include lookup values for all or aportion of the ADOs stored on a given user's machine area. An IdeaOriginator User Name and Address Pointer field could reference alocation in a table of user names 1223 a and/or a table of User NameAddresses 1224 a, or a cross referenced set of both. These tables 1223 aand 1224 a could be stored separately, as part(s) of one or more machinearea stored contact tables 319 (FIG. 3), or as part(s) of one or moreexternal contact tables 332 (FIG. 3). These look up tables 1223 a and1224 a could serve as lookup tables for other pointer fields as well,including an “Owner User Name & Address Pointers” pointer field and/oran optional “Activity Tree User Name Pointer” pointer field. Note thatfor embedded ADOs, it might not even be necessary to include an owneruser name or pointer, since the machine area location itself and/or lackof a stored value could imply that a given ADO might be the machinearea's, say Max's, owned ADO. Additionally, instead of storing sharinginformation for each ADO in each ADO's structure, an ADO sharing table1226′ could include this information for a portion or all of the ADOsstored on a given user's machine area. Such a table might replace thepossible fields in FIG. 12A of 1226 (and it's subcomponents) typicallyused for outbound sharing details, 1243 for outbound summary statusinformation, as well as 1244 for inbound sharing information storage.This ADO Sharing table might include for each LID 1221′, one or moreline items of inbound and/or outbound sharing information, for one ormore participants. It could be argued that such a table, if indexedappropriately, could even improve sharing query performancesignificantly over the sharing information recording approach in FIG.12A. However, when transmitting and received a given derived ADO copy,some of the information from this ADO Sharing table 1226′ would need tobe appended to the transmission. Various other fields could similarly bestored in lookup tables or reference tables, such as 1231′ (CreationTime and/or Random Number), 1233′ (Long Activity Descriptor Field(LADF)), 1234′ (Short Activity Descriptor Field (SADF)), 1241′ (ActivityData Object Priority), 1242′ (Activity Data Object Status), 1250′ (StartDate; Due Date; Completion Time;), 1251′ (Reminder(s) Status), 1252′(Precedent(s); Dependency(ies)), and 1254′ (Icon Display properties).Note that in one embodiment, as is shown in FIG. 12C, activitydescriptions might not include a hierarchical structure. So there are noADO attributes for parent or child pointers. However, FIG. 12C doesinclude extra-journal linkage information from the given ADO to zero,one or more JDIs. Even this is not required, since that logicalinformation could be included in the JDIs alone. However, from a systemperformance standpoint, a typical ACMAN system would perform very slowlyif a large number of JDIs had to be accessed simply to perform basicpresentation filtering operations between the activities presentationarea and the journal presentation area; so it would be beneficial to atinclude a lookup table as indicated at 1240′, or possibly in the journalholding area (316 of FIG. 3) of a given user's (Max's) machine area, asillustrated in FIG. 10 1002. FIG. 12C also illustrates a table for ofADO Modification Times and Synchronization Times 1232, listing ADO LIDs(1221′) and their corresponding last Modification and lastSynchronization (transmission and/or receive) times. FIG. 12C finallyillustrates a privacy settings table 1253′, identifying for each ADO alevel of privacy or possibly other privacy option setting information.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment 1400 which can make use of aso-called, Activity's Proposal EXchange center (a so-called APEX center)1470. The APEX center 1470 may function as a trusted intermediarybetween Max and Adam when they send transmissions back and forth to eachother. It is important that Max (1401) and Adam (1402) each have arespectively unique user name or equivalent ID (1461, 1481,respectively) for inclusion as part of the CIER possibly in section 1222and/or as part of the OUNA in section 1224 indicated in FIG. 12A. Thisallows activity data objects of both users to be mixed together whilestill being able to identify different objects as distinctly differentactivity ideas from each other and also for uniquely identifying who theowner is of each activity data object. The APEX center 1470 may providea first online or otherwise dispensed service 1471 which hands outunique user identification sequences to each of respective users such asMax and Adam. If a central exchange such as 1470 is not used, it ispossible that two or more random users may end up with same useridentification sequences. (In that case, the creation time and/or randomnumber of field of FIG. 12A, 1231 might be used to distinguish the two.)

Users of the system 1400 may move from job to job or simply decide tochange their network contact addresses at random times due to individualpreferences. Adam (1402) may decide one day that he is not happy withISP-A (Internet Service Provider A) and that he wishes to instead usethe internet services of ISP-B. Max (1401) does not know that Adam haschanged his main email or otherwise used contacting address, so it maybecome difficult for Max to quickly transmit activity descriptions oractivity bundles (e.g. 1460 b) to Adam until Max updates his machinearea with Adam's new contact address. Moreover, if Max decides to changehis network contact address 1464, it would be difficult for Adam toquickly reply (1404 b) concerning a just received activity descriptionor activity bundle 1460 b. More specifically, Adam may usually rely onthe contact addresses in his ACMAN system's contact address table totransmit ADOs and/or JDIs to related ADO owners. If the information inthis contact address table is dated (stale), then Adam's computer (120,FIG. 1) may be sending reply information to a wrong destination. On theother hand, if Max and Adam obtain respectively unique and relativelyconstant exchange addresses at an APEX center 1470, then the APEX center1470 may act as a portal for providing the current network contactaddresses for each such APEX center subscriber. Such a service couldfulfill the functions of the optional external contacts table 332 inFIG. 3. Contact addresses maintaining services 1474 may be provided byone or more exchange centers while the unique user ID providing service1471 may be provided by one second center 1470. On the other hand, bothof services 1471 and 1474 may be bundled through a same APEX center1470. Additionally, the contact address maintaining service could alsoserve as a portal for forwarding received activity descriptions andoptional JDIs, although such a data forwarding service 1474 is optional.For example, the APEX center 1470 could be used to maintain currentcontact addresses of each subscribing user, and if a user happens tochange his contact address, his ACMAN system could notify the APEXcenter of his new contact address and possibly even of all the contactaddresses he has in his contact address table. APEX could thenautomatically notify all other of these contacts with the user's newcontact address, and upon receipt of the contact update, each recipientuser's system could automatically update their respective contactaddress table.

Another service that may be provided by the same APEX center 1470 or aseparate and alike center is the service 1475 of providing centralizedmanagement of user account passwords and management of security keysincluding public and private encryption keys for processing the owner'sdigital signature. This password and security management service 1475may be bundled within the same exchange center 1470 that provides one orboth of services 1471 and 1474. Alternatively it may be provided by aseparate security managing service center and/or company.

Yet another service that may be provided by the same APEX center 1470 ora separate and alike center is the service 1477 of providing common ADOand/or JDI field definitions for registered custom fields, such as theother fields illustrated by 1256 in FIG. 12. For instance, while theACMAN system may be installed to support a predefined group of ADOfields, a group of ACMAN users may wish to add new customized fields, orattributes, to their ADO definitions. In order to effectively shareamong the group of users activity descriptions that include such customattributes (as described with FIG. 12A), each receiving group user'sACMAN system would need to possess defining information about the customattribute(s). This would be necessary for the ACMAN system to presentsuch attributes as part of the activity description (possibly asadditional columns like 612–616 as illustrated in FIG. 6A), to enablethe given user to record modifications to the custom field(s) of theirowned activity descriptions, and/or other purposes. Rather than eachtransmitted and received ADO or activities bundle having to include afull definition for any custom field(s), which could very inefficientlyinflate the size of the transmitted or received signals, a centralizedservice such as 1477 could provide such definitions to ACMAN systemsbelonging to any user(s) among a group of such service subscribingusers, when needed. If a user among the group wanted to create a customfield and share such activity descriptions with other users among thegroup, he could register that ADO field definition with the APEX centerservice 1477, which could reserve and issue a custom field identifierthat is unique among all other custom field identifiers of subscribingusers. In this manner, a transmitted or received ADO can simply includethe custom field identifier and the custom field information, and thereceiving user's ACMAN system can then know how to present, recordmodifications, and otherwise utilize that custom field of information.Furthermore, a user's ACMAN system might only need to exchange thatcustom field definition information just once from the APEX service1477, since that definition file can be recorded permanently on hismachine area for later reference. This custom field definition andregistry service 1477 may be bundled within the same exchange center1470 that provides one or many of services 1471, 1474, and 1475.Alternatively it may be provided by a separate service center.

A portion of Max's activity descriptions hierarchy tree is shown at1460. It includes a first subsection 1460 a and a second subsection 1460b. Suppose that Max wishes to transmit to Adam the contents of at leastactivity data object nodes N1.21, . . . , N1.26 within subsection 1460b. Max may optionally further want to include in this transmission thecontents of journal data items 1492 d and 1492 e. Max may do so byinstructing his ACMAN software to transmit section 1460 b by way ofemail (or other transport means and through Internet connection 1404 a)to Adam's network contact address as specified by service 1474 orotherwise.

When the transmitted version of subsection 1460 b arrives at Adam's side1402, Adam cannot be sure that it actually came from Max's side 1401and/or that the transmission has not been tampered with. Accordingly,the ACMAN software on Adam's side (1402) should perform an authenticityverification step 1487. The authenticating step 1487 may include thesubstep 1476 of fetching Max's public keys and/or certificates from asecurity management service such as 1475. The fetched public encryptionkey of Max may be used along with the private key in section 1255 (ofFIG. 12A) for unencrypting the ADOs in the received bundle 1460 c. Ifthe received bundle is authenticated, then Adam may safely view thereceived bundle 1460 c through his ACMAN system (otherwise the ACMANsystem will flag it as suspect or unreadable).

Adam may then decide that the foyered ADO copies within bundle 1460 cthat he has received (corresponding to the bundle 1460 b on Max'smachine) should be embedded into his, Adam's, tree under Adam's nodeN2.03, as new embedded bundle 1488. While user interface controls mayallow Adam to indicate such activity tree insertions, or bundlemodifications, or bundle sharing acceptances, etc. in a single operationon the bundle of ADOs, the ACMAN software may, in practice, execute asingle user instruction directed toward this bundle as several duplicateexecution steps corresponding to each ADO and/or JDI within the bundle.Similarly, Adam may have the option to embed the whole bundle in hisactivity tree in one step, or he may choose to take individual actionswith regard to each individual ADO and/or JDI in the bundle. Forinstance, Adam may further decide that he is not happy with the way thatMax has organized nodes N1.21 to N1.26 of bundle 1460 b and/or how Maxhas filled in the activity descriptors for those respective nodes. Adammay decide to rearrange the nodes and/or change the internaldescriptions of those nodes within Adam's owned embedded version 1488 ofthe received clip 1460 c. Adam may decide to use a different vocabularyin his embedded version 1488. Adam may decide he wants to add additionalnodes and refinements within his version 1488. The owner for the revisedor modified ADOs of section 1488 would be Adam. However, Adam's ADOswithin section 1488 might indicate that the Idea Expression Originatorin IOUNA section 1223 (FIG. 12A) of the activity idea(s) (for theactivity data objects Adam did not insert or create himself) was Max.Max might also be indicated in the user name component of the CIERs(1222, FIG. 12A) of the received foyered activity data objects and ofthe embedded ADOs. (This assumes that all of the activity ideasrepresented in bundle 1460 b were originally created by Max. However, ifthat were not the case for any of the individual ADOs that Max sentAdam, then those ADOs might indicate some IOUNA other than Max.) This isindicated by the arrow 1462 pointing back to Max. Additionally, for theADOs in the received bundle copies 1460 c, the Idea Originator UserNames 1223 might be Max, and the ADO Owner User Names 1224 (FIG. 12A)for the ADOs in the received bundle copies 1460 c might also be Max, asindicated by arrow 1462 a. The common-idea-tied embedded ADOs in bundle1488 map to their respective and common-idea-tied foyered ADOs in 1460 csince they respectively have the same Common Idea Expression References(CIER) 1223 (FIG. 12A). If Adam updates any of the newly embedded ADOsin section 1488, updates of these ADOs in 1488 might be sent back to Maxby Adam's ACMAN system, since there may be a clear Idea Originatorattribution, as is implied by arrow 1462. Foyered bundle copy 1460 cmeanwhile might be kept inside Adam's machine area. If Max later causeshis machine to send updated copies of bundle 1460 b to Adam's machine,Adam's ACMAN system might update Adam's bundle of foyered ADOs 1460 csince Max is the updating owner, as indicated by arrow 1462 a.

This scheme allows Adam to work locally without having to have apersistent connection over a network such as the Internet 1404 a and1404 b to Max's computer. Adam may locally review and compare hisdescriptions of his nodes in section 1488 against those of the foyeredclip 1460 c that had been received from Max. In this way Adam has atranslation dictionary and a mapping that shows Adam's interpretation ofthe descriptions provided by Max and showing how Adam views thesealternate activity nodes 1488 from Adam's perspective. Referring brieflyto FIG. 12A, Adam's different view of matters may include a change byAdam of the priorities (1241) assigned to any of his embedded activitydata objects; a change in precedent and/or subsequent dependencies(1252); a change in due dates (1250); and a change in the sharingagreement indicated in the “Inbound Sharing Status” section (1244), andso forth.

After Adam has made his changes to nodes (and/or journal data items) inembedded region 1488, Adam may choose to send back to Max a copy of theso-modified region 1488. In one embodiment, the transmitting back ofupdates to Max would be completely automated by ACMAN and possibly evensomewhat transparent to Adam. When the transmitted updates for bundle1488 arrive at Max's machine, Max's machine would also need to verifythe contents to ensure they had not been spoofed or tampered with. TheACMAN software on Adam's side (1401) should perform an authenticityverification step 1487 a. The authenticating step 1487 a may include thesubstep (not shown) of fetching Adam's public keys and/or certificatesfrom a security management service such as 1475. The fetched publicencryption key of Adam may be used along with the private key in ADOsection 1255 (FIG. 12A) for unencrypting the ADOs in the received bundle1488. If the received bundle is authenticated, then Max's ACMAN systemmay safely accept the received copy of bundle 1488 under his ACMANsoftware package and create a new foyered tree 1488 b for Adam's ADOs orupdate Adam's existing foyered ADO tree 1488 b accordingly. Max'smachine will then treat the derived copy 1488 b of 1488 as a foyered setof nodes which are owned and updated by Adam. Max may then be able tobetter understand what Adam is thinking. Just as Adam's system possessesthe ADOs (and optionally JDIs) locally and can show Adam's view comparedto Max's view of the same activity ideas, Adam's system is updatingMax's system about his ADOs (and optionally JDIs) and changes to hisADOs (and optionally JDIs) in 1488. So Max also, without having apersistent connection over the internet 1404 a and 1404 b is able to seeactivities from his perspective and from Adam's perspective, even asthose perspectives get updated.

FIG. 12B illustrates one embodiment of a state diagram for thegenerating of activity sharing agreements which will be described. InSTATE-1, Max is working alone to develop a bundle of activities 1260. Inhis development process (STATE-1) Max may collect various journal dataitems and use them to modify his description and organization ofActivity Data Objects within bundle 1260. Note that in this example,singular actions are shown to be taken with respect to an entire bundleof activity data objects. Max may use tools included in the ACMANsoftware to change the attributes of not only one activity data object,but a bundle of ‘m’ activity data objects with effectively oneinstruction rather than ‘m’ instructions. Alternatively, this examplecould just be scaled down to demonstrate the same concepts pertaining tothe sharing of just a single activity idea expression and its associatedactivity data object copies. Or yet in another example, the differentADOs may have slightly different attribute settings. For example,different ADOs within the bundle could be given different priorities(1241 in FIG. 12A). But regardless of individual ADO differences, a setof ADOs may be bundled together for the benefit of simplifying anymanual actions Max may want to take, such as sharing or setting the samepriority level or privacy level, etc. Additionally, if one attributevalue (for instance, 1241 m-1) is illustrated in FIG. 12B asrepresenting that attribute value over a bundle (for instance, 1260) ofactivity descriptions, then all the ADOs in that corresponding bundle,for the purpose of this illustrated example, possess the sameillustrated attribute value.

Max next marks the activity status of all of the activity data objectnodes in his bundle 1260 as “Active” (see entry 1242 m-1). Max furtherindicates that the sharing agreement for each node within this bundle is“Not Shared” (see entry 1243 m-1). Max designates each of the nodes inthis bundle 1260 as being “High” Priority (see 1241 m-1).

In STATE-2, Max has finished developing his activities bundle and is nowready to share and transmit the developed bundle to three (3) possibleparticipants, Adam, Harry and Charlie. Max transmits the bundle copies1260 a, 1260 b and 1260 c, by way of email or otherwise. When Max sendsthese ADO bundle copies, he does not know whether each of therespectively transmitted bundles will get through to the intendedrecipient (Adam, Harry, Charlie) or whether the recipients will respondpositively. In the example, the Internet connection 1204 a 1 to Adam isoperative and Adam receives the activity sharing request from Max. Thework sharing request indicates at entry point 1229-1′ that the item hasbeen sent to Adam with a request to WorkShare this bundle of activitydata objects with Max. In practice, each ADO in this bundle may have itsown attribute values such as 1241 m-2, 1242 m-2, and 1229-1′. But all ofthe ADOs within this specific bundle happen to have the shown attributesset identically. Furthermore, when Max's ACMAN system sends this bundle,it may optionally transmit additional data indicating that a particularset of ADOs represents a bundle that each recipient may choose torespond to as a bundle instead of individually. However, Adam mightinstead choose to accept only some ADOs within the bundle.

Note briefly that the ADO data structure field reference numbers in FIG.12B correspond to the data structure elements in FIG. 12A. For instance1242 m-2 and 1229-1′ in FIG. 12B correspond respectively to 1242 and1229-1 in FIG. 12A. Note also that each of the copies of the ADO bundlethat Max is sending to each of Adam, Harry, and Charlie (1260 a, 1260 b,and 1260 c) could be nearly identical in their content. The tablemagnifications highlighting 1229-1′, 1229-2, and 1229-3 do not implythat the ADOs sent to each participant must be different. Rather forpurposes of illustration, only the respective field pertaining to eachparticipant is shown. So, the fields 1229-1′, 1229-2, 1229-3 that happento be shown in this diagram, correspond to portions of the ADO SharingDetails as in FIG. 12A 1226 corresponding to participants Adam, Harry,and Charlie respectively.

In FIG. 12A, 1226 illustrates that an entire set of Participant SharingDetails, pertaining possibly to all the sharee participants for thegiven ADO, may be stored within each such ADO, and in this example, thevalue of “n” in 1226 a might be “3”. So section 1226 might store PID-1,PID-2, PID-3, as well as ShareType and ShareStatus information for eachof the 3 respective participants. Finally, note that the Participant'sLocal ADO ID (PID) in 1229-1′ (FIG. 12B) indicates a value of “Adam.?”.The participant user name is Adam, but the ADO serial reference code isunknown at this point. Until Adam responds back with an acceptance oracknowledgement of receipt, and includes back indicating what hiscorresponding Local ADO ID serial reference code is, it remains as anundefined variable on Max's system.

Let's return back to the example in FIG. 12B where Max has just sentAdam an activity bundle. In response, Adam decides to accept Max'sWorkSharing request, and as such, Adam embeds a copy of the receivedbundle (or parts of it) into his own activity tree. By default, since heaccepted the WorkSharing request, Adam's activity statuses for the ADOsin the embedded bundle parts are initially “Active” as indicated at 1242a. Adam may manually cause his ACMAN system to change the activitystatuses to “Pending” or “Forward to later date”, etc. if he wishes to.Assuming Adam does not further change his inbound sharing status (e.g.Inbound Sharing Status field 1244 of FIG. 12A) from Accepted, his ACMANsystem may automatically report this sharing agreement back to Max asindicated by 1244 a. The embedded bundle of ADOs 1288 a can be furthermodified by Adam. Adam might add two additional ADOs of his own aschildren to some of the ADOs in 1288 a (see the two bottom-most darkenedactivity nodes in 1288 a), and he might modify one of the existingactivity descriptions in 1288 a (see the top-most darkened activity nodein 1288 a). Since the parent ADO(s) of Adam's newly added child ADOs maycontain Idea Originator User Name indications of Max, Adam's ACMANsystem might send updates to Max of these child ADOs as well. In thatway, Max will be able to monitor the status of the ADOs he shared withAdam as well as the additional, supporting child ADOs that Adam haschosen to initiate. This will be described in detail later in FIG. 18Aand FIG. 18B. As another example of Adam's modifications, unlike Max,Adam considers the priority of the activity data objects in region 1288a to be medium (as indicated in 1241 a). Attribution links 1217 a extendfrom Adam's embedded copy 1288 a (in Adam's machine area) to a copy inAdam's machine area of Max's sent bundle 1260 a via the CIER datastructure, 1222 (FIG. 12A). Note that the embedded ADO bundle on Adam'smachine, 1288 a, also includes references to Max's machine area copiesof the ADOs, due to the CIER data structure 1222 (FIG. 12A) and possiblydue to the optional IOUNA data structure 1223 (FIG. 12A). Additionally,note that the foyered ADO bundle on Adam's machine, 1260 a, alsoincludes references to Max's machine copy of the ADOs due to the CIERdata structure 1222 (FIG. 12A), and possibly due to the optional IOUNA1223 and/or the OUNA 1224 data structures (FIG. 12A). Adam's ACMANsystem can automatically send via Internet connection 1204 b 1 a copy orupdated copy of Adam's activity data objects 1288 a back to Max at anytime Adam is connected to the internet. When Max receives the update,Max's system might accordingly update the ADOs in his embedded ADOs forbundle 1260, such that the data structure field corresponding to 1229-1′might include Adam's ADO ID serial reference code in place of the “?” in“Adam.?”, and it might update the ShareStatus for Adam from “Sent” to“Active”. In addition, Max's machine has received a foyered copy of theactivity bundle 1288 a from Adam's machine, and the OUNA 1224 (of FIG.12A) for that bundle of activity data objects might indicate “Adam”. NowMax's system can provide an indication to Max that Adam has received andaccepted the requests from the originally sent bundle 1260 a. Now Maxwill know that Adam has elected to accept the represented activities asWorkShare requests as indicated in region 1244 a. Max will further knowthat Adam has given these items a medium priority as indicated in area1241 a.

Further in the example, Max has sent bundle 1260 b to Harry with anindication that this is merely For Your Information (FYI), (see 1229-2).At some time in the future, Harry connects his computer to Internetnetwork 1204 a 2 and receives the activity bundle 1260 b by way of emailor otherwise. Harry may review the received bundle of ADOs and decide helikes the represented activities and wants to actively participate inthem, even though Max had only sent them to him as an FYI bundle. SoHarry might integrated a derived copy 1288 h of Max's bundle 1260 b intoHarry's embedded tree and modify the descriptions and/or organizationsof the activity nodes to suit Harry's needs. In this example, Harry hasalso indicated the activity status for the activity descriptions in hisclip 1288 h as being active (see 1242 h). In one embodiment, Harry canindicate that he has decided to accept this as a WorkShare activity withMax, even though Max only sent the activities bundle as FYI Shared, asindicated in area 1229-2. Additionally, like Max, Harry has decided thatthese activities require a high priority as indicated in area 1241 h.Harry's ACMAN system transmits the update information by way of emailing1204 b 2 or otherwise back to Max. When Max later connects his machineto the exchange server, Max will learn that Harry has received a copy ofbundle 1260 b and that Harry has opted to become a WorkSharingparticipant for the represented activity. Now Max and Harry will be ableto asynchronously exchange updates to each other in the same manner thatMax and Adam can.

Bundle copy 1260 c shows that Max has sent an FYI informational ADObundle to Charlie Chief. The informational bundle reached Charlie by wayof connection 1204 a 3. Charlie reviewed the bundle 1260 c that wastransferred to Charlie's machine area. However, Charlie is a very busyCEO, and he is not going to get actively involved in the representedactivity. So Charlie has not embedded a copy of received bundle 1260 cin Charlie's activity tree. (In one embodiment, Charlie's machine mayautomatically message Max's machine to simply acknowledge that thetransmission was received by Charlie's ACMAN system.) No embedded copyis kept on Charlie's activity tree—only a foyered copy (which may beupdated occasionally by Max and in turn by an update transmission fromMax's ACMAN system) is stored on Charlie's machine area. In oneembodiment, at a later date Charlie may elect to be an activeWorkSharing participant and embed a copy 1288 c of some of theactivities in bundle 1260 c into Charlie's tree. This has not happenedyet though.

The results of these activities or non-activities is shown briefly inSTATE-4. Each of the ADOs in Max's embedded bundle 1260 d in his ownmachine area may automatically be updated by Max's ACMAN system torecord a sharing agreement summary status of WorkShared, as indicated inarea 1243 m-4, since for each of the ADOs in the bundle, at least oneparticipant has agreed to the WorkSharing request. If any one specificADO in the bundle happened not to have been accepted by any of theinvited participants, it of course would not indicate WorkShared in itsspecific Outbound Sharing Status field 1243 (of FIG. 12A). As explainedin FIG. 7, there is a more detailed sharing status presentation thatMax's ACMAN system can present to Max so that he can see the ParticipantSharing Details per each participant, but that is not shown explicitlyin FIG. 12B. In addition to his embedded bundle of ADOs 1260 d, Max'slocal machine area now includes common-idea-tied foyered ADO bundles,1288 a′ and 1288 h′, which are update copies sent from Adam's andHarry's machines, respectively. As indicated by 1217 a′ and 1217 h′,there are embedded ADO to/from foyered ADO equivalency relationshipsfrom Max's embedded ADOs to/from the respective ADOs in Adam's foyeredADO tree copy and also to/from the respective ADOs in Harry's foyeredADO tree copy, and these are all possessed on Max's local machine area.Note that now, Adam's 1288 a′ and Harry's 1288 h′ owned bundles,resident on Max's machine as bundles of foyered ADOs, may not have theexact same hierarchical relationships as each other or as Max's embeddedADO bundle 1260 d. This is because each of Adam and Harry modified theirrespective embedded bundles differently. For example, Adam caused hissystem to modify activity data object 1289 a and to add two childactivity data objects below it, while Harry caused his system to add anew activity data object 1289 h and two new child nodes to his bundle1288 h′. Thus, in STATE-4, Max now has sharing agreements with both ofAdam and Harry, and mappings to Adam's and Harry's perspectives of howthe activities might be described and organized by Adam and Harry.Charlie knows what is happening but has declined to actively join theproject at this point in time. In one embodiment, changes to theextra-journal linked JDIs are also updated among the various users,where the respective ADO ID related data structure elements (i.e. inFIG. 12A, 1222 through 1224) provide the necessary information to therespective ACMAN systems to tie together not only the relationships offoyered to embedded ADOs but also of their extra-journal linked JDIs.

Now that we have described possible data structures for ADOs and JDIs,as well as related activity sharing state diagrams, we will nowdemonstrate some useful examples of the sharing aspects of a system inaccordance with the disclosure. As mentioned earlier in the descriptionof FIG. 2, there may be several ways an ACMAN system can provideactivity expression representations of other users to a first user. (1)One possible way is via invasive ghost viewing with a “live andpersistent” connection between two machines. Adam may give permission tothe machine of his supervisor, first user Max, so that Max's ACMANsystem can remotely read and/or edit into Adam's stored activity treeand present these activity descriptions that Adam is engaged in (thatare not set to a private level of access security). (2) A secondpossible way is via an emulation of a live persistent connection usingasynchronous messaging of derived activity data object copies andoptionally also of derived journal data item copies. This second, or“asynchronous” way can easily enable sharing of ADOs across corporateboundaries. It can be broken down into possibly two subtypes of updates.(2a) One possible asynchronous subtype (we can call “supervisorsharing”) might be based on setting relatively comprehensive supervisorypermissions in one's ACMAN system so Adam's system can be set to alwaysautomatically message his supervisor(s), such as first user Max, withsome or all of Adam's newly created and/or modified activity dataobjects (except those that are set to a private level of accesssecurity) and optionally their extra-journal linked JDIs. This couldprovide an easy and automated means for subordinates to benefit fromsupervisory monitoring and mentoring, since Adam would not need toexplicitly indicate a sharing request for each of his activitydescriptions. (2b) Another possible asynchronous subtype is based onexplicit sharing of ADOs, and optionally their extra-journal linkedJDIs. This could allow asynchronous activity sharing to be extremelyflexible, i.e. by enabling activity sharing to be bidirectional, tocross departmental boundaries, and to be unconstrained by reportinghierarchy.

Development and execution of corporate MBOs provide a good example ofhow the latter described asynchronous subtype, explicit ADO (andoptional JDI) sharing, may be used. FIG. 15 illustrates one embodimentof two users' hierarchical activity data objects displayed in onepresentation area 1501. Here, Max Manager is displaying his embeddedactivities 1520 in a graphical display mode. There could be too manyactivities to display all of them comfortably in one presentation. SoMax may apply selection-filters to view and/or enlarge only the activitynodes that he is interested in at a given time, while other activitynodes are minimized 1521 or even completely hidden. Alternatively, hemay manually collapse various branches, minimize other nodes, expand, ordrill down into a branch of activities that are interesting. Separately,Charlie Chief, Max's CEO, may have established some corporate MBOs 1500together with his company management. Charlie may have explicitly sharedthese corporate MBOs on an FYI sharing basis with all of the employeesin his company. (Charlie may optionally have another ACMAN softwarelicense, user name, and computer that he or his administrative assistantuse for the corporate MBOs that is separate from his own license, username, and computer. This could allow him to travel without possiblygetting overloaded by a lot of corporate MBO updates from all thecompany employees.)

In this possible example, Max is travelling with his laptop computer.But since he recently exchanged his emails and ADOs (e.g. through awireless hot spot at the airport), his local machine area (his laptopcomputer) possesses copies of the FYI-shared corporate MBOs that arestored as foyered ADOs. Max decides that he wants to plan his activitiesto be supportive of his company's goals. Since his ACMAN system hasalready stored the received, FYI shared Corporate MBOs, Max's ACMANsystem can present his company's corporate level MBO activities 1500within the same on-display presentation (recall 111 of FIG. 1) as hisembedded activities 1520. Note that the graphical presentation ofactivity trees does not have to be vertical as in FIG. 8; it can behorizontally arranged as illustrated here in FIG. 15, or otherwise. Inaddition, it could be possible for Max to instruct his ACMAN system todisplay his activity tree along with any other activity tree or treesthat his local machine area possesses. In this particular example, Maxsees that the company is trying to establish 3 new distribution partners1502. Max had already been informally talking to the VP of Marketing atHeinz™ about some joint advertising ideas, so Max decides to cause hissystem to add an activity data object described by “Heinz™ MarketingPartnership” 1523 to his owned set of embedded activities. For Max, thisactivity description related primarily to an advertising program, but hesuddenly realizes there could be some real synergy with his corporateobjectives if he can expand their relationship to become a marketing anddistribution partnership as well. As such, Max drags his activity dataobject 1523 with his mouse over to corporate MBO 1502, therebyestablishing 1523 a the corporate MBO as a foyered parent ADO to hisembedded child ADO. Max also realizes that in order to provide incentiveto Heinz™, Max could incorporate one of Heinz™ tomato ingredients intohis company's (IFWC's) new vegetable product line. So Max drags activitydata object 1523 over to corporate MBO 1503. Note that Max's embeddedADO 1523 has more than one foyered parent ADO. In one embodiment, theremay be one or more foyered parent ADOs for a given embedded ADO. In analternative embodiment there may be one primary foyered parent ADO; andif there is one primary foyered parent ADO, there may also be one ormore secondary foyered parent ADOs. Although ADO data structureattribute 1245 (FIG. 12A) illustrates the former embodiment, additionalattributes could easily be added to support the alternative embodimentwith secondary foyered parent ADOs. In FIG. 15, the alternativeembodiment is shown—instead of two embedded child to foyered parentrelationships, there is one primary relationship 1523 a and onesecondary relationship 1523 b.

Next, Max thinks about his existing activity data object representation,to “Hire Veggie Product Mgr” 1524. He realizes that although he alreadyhad it planned, it should be associated as a child activity in supportof the corporate MBO to “Develop 1^(st) Vegetable Product” 1503. So hecauses his system to record and present a parent/child relationshipbetween the two activity data objects. Realizing the new importance thishire may have, Max gives the activity data object 1524 a higher prioritysetting.

The next time Max connects to the internet, his computer might sendupdates to Charlie's machine that originally shared the corporate MBOActivity Data Objects with the many company employees' ACMAN systems.Over time, Charlie's computer might get similar updates from manyemployees' machines throughout the company. Then Charlie might instructhis ACMAN system to present some or all of the representations of ADOsthat others have associated as supporting children to the corporateMBOs. Furthermore, Charlie instructs his ACMAN system to present the ADOstatuses of one or more of these foyered ADOs. With this information,Charlie can assess if the company is on track to achieving itsobjectives, who is involved, and if the right actions are being taken bythe right people. If anything is not on track, Charlie can know to takecorrective action as needed. The machine system may also automaticallyalert Charlie of off-track activities.

Now Max, realizing how important it is now going to be to hire theVeggie Product Manager 1524 decides he had better get some extra helpfrom Harry Human Resources. So Max selects activity data objectexpression “Hire Veggie Product Mgr” 1524, and issues ACMAN a command toshare this activity data object with other participants. FIG. 16Aillustrates a possible activity sharing message that Max Manager thencomposes via his ACMAN system. In one embodiment, the activity sharingis received by recipients via their email client application, and theactivity sharing message is incorporated into a normal email message,including a “To” and optionally “cc” and “subject” field section 1600followed by a message body 1600 a. That message body may include themain activity data object attributes 1601 as well as all the relevantadditional activity data object attributes 1603, the type of sharingrequest Max is making 1602, the activity data object hierarchy 1604, anyspecial message he wants to convey 1606, and optionally journal details1605 associated with the activity data object. Nearly all of thisinformation may be automatically included in the activity sharingmessage by Max's ACMAN system. All Max may need to manually specify hereare what ADO(s) he wants to share (indicated by 1616), who he wants toshare the activity data object(s) with (fields 1612 and 1613) and how hewants to share it (in this case, as a WorkSharing 1615 request). ACMANcan get the rest of the information from the activity data objects inMax's embedded and foyered activity trees and optionally from hisextra-journal linked JDIs, which are stored on Max's machine area.

In one embodiment, the Activity Sharing 1602 of an ADO or ADO bundle canbe either Delegated or WorkShared 1615, and optionally FYI Shared or notFYI Shared 1617. Each invited participant may be assigned one ShareTypein the invitation. In an alternative embodiment, activity sharing can bedone as any combination of Delegated and/or WorkShared and/or FYIShared, and each respective participant may be assigned one respectiveShareType. (It should be appreciated that a system in accordance withthe present disclosure can be devised with different one or more typesof sharing agreements and not limited by the types described herein; andthese sharing types described herein are only a possible set of activitysharing types for which the ACMAN system is applicable.) In this exampleof FIG. 16A, Max is WorkSharing 1615 the activity data object(s) withHarry HR, and Max is also FYI Sharing 1617 the activity with AdamAssistant. By WorkSharing, Max be staying actively “engaged” in therepresented underlying activity. If Max were instead to delegate theactivity data object to Harry, he might be assigning full accountabilityto Harry, and thus Max might be disengaged from the representedunderlying activity. In one embodiment, a user can either Delegate orWorkShare an activity data object, but not both. If Max were to Delegatean ADO to two (or more) people (for example, “Write your Weekly StatusReport” to Adam and to Mary), ACMAN might also duplicate the singleActivity Data Object into two (or more) distinct activity data objects,because each instance of the activity data object, one to Adam and oneto Mary, might have its own accountability and status. Instead, byWorkSharing 1615 this activity data object 1616, Max and Harry both maybe actively engaged in the represented underlying activity in whateverrespective ways might be appropriate to their roles. In one embodiment,regardless of whether a given activity data object is Delegated orWorkShared however, any other user can be included as an FYI recipient,as indicated at 1617 and in “cc:” field 1613. Whoever is in the “To:”field 1612 might be a Delegate or WorkShare participant, and whoever isin the “cc:” field 1613 might be automatically deemed to be an FYIparticipant. An FYI participant does not necessarily get involved in theactivity, but is sent the activity data object in order to be explicitlyinformed about the represented activity. Max in this case is causing hisACMAN system to send an FYI copy to Adam Assistant's machine area sothat Adam can become aware that Max is trying to hire a vegetableproduct manager. Since Adam is informed of Max's activity idea, althoughhe does not need to actively engage in the activity, he at least isinformed about it so that if some opportunity happens to come up tohelp, he can. Or being informed may just help Adam to understand whathis supervisor is doing so that they can work better as a team. Forexample, if Adam was planning on ordering office supplies for thedepartment, just knowing about this represented activity 1616, Adammight modify his order to include some items so that they are preparedfor the new employee.

Sections 1601 and 1603 do not have to be presented in exactly thismanner. This is just one possible way to do so. 1601 might present onone line the most pertinent attributes of the activity data object,consistent with the attributes that happen to be shown in the structuredactivity listing presentation area in 610 (FIG. 6A). Since there aretypically more attributes than might be appropriate to show in one line,the remaining activity data object attributes (see 1220 b of FIG. 12A)may be shown in section 1603. (And there may even be some customattributes such as 1256 of FIG. 12A that an ACMAN system may use thatare shared and/or displayed in 1601 or 1603.) Of the ADO attributespreviously described in 1220 b, not all of them would necessarily needto be included in the transmission to other participants, and even someof those that are transmitted may not be viewed in a normal user mode.For example, in FIG. 12A, column 1220 c illustrates just one embodimentof which ADO attributes might typically be included as part of atransmitted and derived copy of an ADO intended to be shared. “I”indicates that the contents of the transmitter's ADOs attribute would beIncluded in this embodiment; “M” indicates the contents in thisembodiment would be transmitted but would typically be Modified in someway; “O” indicates the contents in this embodiment could be Optionallyincluded; and “N” means the contents in this embodiment would Not beincluded. For instance, the Common Idea Expression Reference (CIER) 1222might be included, while the address offsets 1257 of the elements of theshared activity data object copy would have to be modified somewhat fromembedded copy on Max's machine area. ADO Sharing Details section 1226might be modified by removing portions of this section from atransmitted ADO copy. For instance, if a first user wanted to share theADO with two other users without the two other users knowing about eachother, portions of section 1226 could be modified and/or removed to keepsecret who else is participating in the represented activity. Theextra-journal links 1240 may optionally not be included if the ACMANsystem is designed to share ADOs but not JDIs with others, or if thetransmitting user indicates to his system a desire not to share hisjournal data items. Finally, the Outbound Sharing Status 1243 andInbound Sharing Status 1244 may not be relevant to the outbound sharingparticipants, so those contents may not need to be included. Of theattributes that are included in the derived and transmitted ADO copy,many may be included in the ADO transmission, but their values orcontents may not be necessary to display to users. For instance, itmight only confuse a user to have displayed the internal data structureattributes such as 1257 or 1221.

Returning back to FIG. 16A, section 1604 is a brief graphicalpresentation of the activity hierarchy, or context, in which the sharedactivity data object might reside in the transmitting user's activityhierarchy, if hierarchical relationships are recorded. When Maxindicates to his ACMAN system an intention to share an ADO 1616, hisACMAN system may automatically include in the subsequent transmission, aderived copy of that ADO 1616 as well each respective primary parentADO, progressively up to and including the root node of Max's embeddedactivity tree 1617. Optionally, some or all of the ADO's (1616) foyeredparent(s) 1621 and their respective primary parent(s) 1622 possiblyincluding up to the respective foyered root node(s) may also beautomatically included (depending on privacy clearances). (Optionally,although not shown in this embodiment, the secondary parent ADOs, ifany, to ADO 1616 could be included, as might any secondary parents ofany foyered ADOs.) Note that since Max, in this example, is onlyindicating his intention to directly share the ADO “Hire Veggie ProductMgr” 1616, the various parent ADOs that his ACMAN system mayautomatically derive copies of and include in the transmission (1618,1621 and further progenitors) may be modified in their transmittedderivations as indicating an FYI sharetype. The respective parent ADOcopies stored on Max's machine area might not indicate FYI sharing withAdam, since Max did not manually indicate an explicit intention to sharesuch parent ADOs, but rather his ACMAN system transmitted themautomatically for contextual purposes. In this manner, Harry HR canreceive the sharing request and understand the full context of the ADO1616 expression, “Hire Veggie Product Mgr”. Harry will understand thatfor Max, this is an addition to Max's own staff 1618, and Harry willalso understand that this supports his company's bigger MBO of “Develop1^(st) Vegetable Product” 1622. Harry may give this a higher prioritythan he otherwise might have.

Section 1605 is optional, and includes a copy of the Journal DataItem(s) (1623 and 1624) that are associated via extra-journal links tothe ADO 1616 that is being shared. Max has the option to cause hissystem include such JDI copies or not in his shared transmission, oreven to let the ACMAN system present a copy of his JDI(s) and then toselectively indicate (e.g. delete) whatever details he prefers not toshare. If he wishes, Max can optionally also insert a special message1606 for this specific transmission. The convenience in all this is thatMax has to do almost no time consuming work to provide a full context ofthe activity expression that he wishes to share with Harry. The ACMANsystem is able to look up and provide all this contextual information byutilizing all the ADO pointers and extra-journal links associated withMax's ADO(s).

FIG. 16A illustrates this activity sharing as if both Max and Harry havean email or other client with sophisticated viewing capability, e.g.HTML or some kind of rich format that supports graphical, textualpresentations, and maybe even audio or other multimedia formats. Thatdoes not have to be the case. As will be shown in FIG. 17, a simpleASCII text rendition of the shared activity data object transmissionmight be included in the transmission in addition or instead, so that arecipient who may have a less advanced email or other client might stillbe able to understand at least basically what the sharing request isabout. For instance, some of the transmitted message's key attributeswithin 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, 1605, and/or 1606 might be presented in ahuman understandable text format. In Max's contact address table (asdescribed in FIG. 3319 and/or 332), which might map user names to theirrespective contact address(es), there may also be stored informationabout whether or not each other user has an ACMAN system installed, aswell as, optionally, stored information about what format of messagestheir email client may accept. This information can be used by the ACMANsystem to determine the content format of activity sharing messages tosend.

Regardless of how the recipient is able to visualize the receivedactivity data object sharing request within their email or otherreceiving client application, the shared activity data object(s) andsupporting information may also, or alternatively, be contained in astructured, machine readable format. In one embodiment, the entireshared activity data object and supporting information, includingsections 1600, 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, 1605, and/or 1606, might also beincluded into a binary object attachment 1607. This binary object mightbe in a format that is parsable and understandable by the ACMANsoftware. A user might open their email message containing thisattachment 1607, and indicate to their operating system to instruct thecorresponding ACMAN system application to process the attachment,possibly by double clicking with one's mouse on the attachment. Thisbinary object might be recognized by the receiver's system, or operatingsystem, so that simply by the receiver double clicking on a presentationof the binary object, his ACMAN system could be called up to record thebinary object in a receiving storage area and/or to the appropriatefoyered activity description area on his machine area.

In another embodiment, as briefly illustrated in FIG. 17, the attachment1607 from FIG. 16A might be converted and included as parsable ASCIItext 1730 (e.g. 7-bit US ASCII) embedded into the message body, inaddition to or instead of as an encoded binary email attachment.Optionally, this text might further be compressed and/or encrypted 1732into a long ASCII string as in 1731. By including the ACMAN formattedbinary object from FIG. 16A (1607) instead as an ACMAN formatted or asan otherwise formatted ASCII message as part of the email body (1730 or1731), this transmission can bypass corporate firewalls that oftenfilter out unknown attachments from email or other messagetransmissions. Including the text in an ACMAN system parsable formatwould enable the transmitted message to bypass corporate firewalls, yetstill be converted back into recorded ADO and/or JDI data structuresthat can be integrated back into a receiver's ACMAN system.Additionally, transmitting the message as plain ASCII text would make itpossible for an ACMAN system user to communicate activity descriptionexpressions and/or journal item expressions to users of unalikemachines. Unalike machines may not have full ACMAN capabilities but theyshould at least be able to receive and present text based activityand/or description expressions (such as 1740 or at least 1730) generatedby an ACMAN system. Transmitting the message as plain ASCII text couldinclude a more easily human readable first text section containing onlybasic portions of the activity expressing information (e.g. a simplifiedsubset of 1730), in addition to or instead of a second text sectioncontaining a complete set of ACMAN system parsable text fields orparsably encrypted text fields (as in 1730 or 1731 respectively). Bytransmitting together the first text section and the second textsection, a user either of an alike or of an unalike machine would beable to understand and possibly act upon the received transmittedmessage, yet the transmitting machine would not have to have knowledgeof the type of machine at the receiving end. Yet other viabletransmitting options would be to include in a transmission anycombination of rich text/html; and/or one or more ACMAN interpretableencoded binary objects; and/or ASCII text or equivalentcompressed/encrypted text in the message body.

Once Harry HR's machine receives the activity sharing request messagefrom Max's machine, his ACMAN system can parse out the attachment 1607,or alternatively 1730 or 1731. Harry's ACMAN system can then incorporatethe contained activity data object(s) and optional journal data item(s)into Harry's foyered activity tree(s), and optionally hold the remaininginformation such as special message 1606 and journal data items 1605(FIG. 16A) in a temporary storage location, pending Harry's review.Harry can then review this and possibly any other recently receivedactivity sharing requests that are waiting for him on his local machine,also possibly in some temporary storage location.

FIG. 16B illustrates one embodiment of what Harry might be presentedwith by his ACMAN system as he reviews the activity received from Maxand possibly begins to incorporate it into his own embedded activitytree. This is not the only way in which Harry could be presented withthis information. The ACMAN system could have presented Harry with aview very similar to FIG. 16A first, and then provide any number ofmeans (graphical iconized tree with drag and drop, multiple window dragand drop, textual commands, menu commands, etc), by which Harry couldincorporate the shared activity data object(s) into his embedded tree.This is only one possible example of how Harry might be able to view,organize, and plan his inclusion of the shared activity data object(s)into his own activity tree. Section 1651 and 1652 are the relevantportions of the foyered activity trees that Max may have transmitted toHarry, showing simple icons (1616′, 1618′, 1621′, etc.) to indicate eachADO and parent ADO along the respective activity trees. The activitydata object expression that Max has caused his system to transmit toHarry as a WorkShare request is 1616′. All the other activity dataobject expressions (1618′, 1619′, 1620′, as well as 1621′ and 1622′)might be FYI shared (as opposed to WorkShared or Delegated) by default,since they may have been automatically included simply to providecontextual information about ADO 1616′. Harry may decide to acceptinvolvement in the activity represented by the ADO of 1616′ from Max bydragging it's representation 1616′, possibly with his mouse or pointer,into his embedded activity tree representation 1650 and positioning itunder his embedded ADO representation 1636. From Harry's perspective, itmight make sense to think of this represented activity as a childactivity to the “Denver” recruiting activity (represented by 1636). ForHarry, the full activity data object hierarchy might then be “Harry HRActivities\Work\Recruiting\Denver\Hire Veggie Product Mgr”, while forMax, the corresponding activity hierarchy might have been “Max ManagerActivities\Work\Staff\Hire Veggie Product Mgr”. Unlike for Max wherethis is Max's only staff hiring activity, for Harry, this is just one ofmany hiring activities he has to support, and he prefers to organize hisrecruiting by territory (Denver, Los Angeles, etc.).

Note in FIG. 16B that Max optionally transmitted some journal data items(1623′ and 1624′) that had been extra-journal linked to his sharedactivity data object 1616′. These derived copies have been received byHarry's ACMAN system, and recorded in Max's foyered area on Harry'smachine area. When Harry dragged 1616′ into his embedded tree to acceptthe sharing request and create an embedded activity description 1635,Harry's ACMAN system may have prompted Harry to automatically createfurther derived but embedded copies of the extra-journal linked JDIsthat are stored in Max's foyered journal area of Harry's machine area.In this example, Harry has decided to embed the JDI 1624′ into Harry'sowned and embedded journal. Harry can now further edit the expression1624″ as desired.

At this point, Harry HR might have 1635 in his embedded activity tree.Foyered ADO 1616′ and embedded ADO 1635 are common-idea-tied ADOs, sincethey have been associated by Harry as belonging to an exclusive group ofADOs corresponding to one common idea. As common-idea-tied ADOs, both ofthem would have the same Common Idea Expression Reference (CIER) 1222(recall FIG. 12A), yet as separately stored copies of the same activitydata object, they might have different Local ADO IDs (LIDs) 1221.Harry's machine area might possess foyered copies of the FYI shared ADOsin the foyered activity tree for Max 1651, including 1616′, 1618′,1619′, and 1620′. Optionally, Harry's machine area might also possessfoyered copies of the FYI shared ADOs in the foyered Corporate MBOactivity tree 1652, including ADOs 1622′ and 1621′. Henceforth, any timeHarry modifies his embedded activity description 1635, an ADO updatemight automatically be messaged to Max's machine area by Harry's ACMANsoftware. Also, any time Max modifies his own embedded copy of 1616′(specifically, the ADO instance 1524 from FIG. 15), an updated ADO mightbe automatically transmitted by Max's ACMAN software to Harry's machinearea.

Note that if Charlie Chief had already FYI shared the company'sCorporate MBO activities to Harry, Harry's machine area might alreadypossess foyered copies of all the ADOs shown in area 1652. Any updatesthat Charlie Chief 403 (FIG. 4) might have sent already might have beenalready updated on Harry's machine before Harry received nearlyidentical copies of them from Max. By referencing the Common IdeaExpression Reference (CIER) 1222 (see FIG. 12A) (and possibly the OUNA1224 and/or the IOUNA 1223 and/or the ATUN 1225) of the various ADOs onhis machine, Harry's ACMAN system can determine that Harry 's machinearea already possesses copies of some of these ADOs on his machine.Accordingly, ACMAN can look at the respective Last ADO Modification Time1232 (FIG. 12A) of each possibly redundant activity data object, recordattributes of the most up-to-date copy into Harry's foyered activitydescription(s), and discard the others.

Returning to Harry, Harry next decides to plan out ADO 1635 (from FIG.16B) for his own needs. FIG. 16C illustrates one possible embodiment ofthe kinds of changes Harry might make. Harry first modifies the ShortActivity Descriptor Field expression for the ADO 1635′ from “Hire VeggieProduct Mgr” to “Hire Max's Veggie Product Mgr” so that he doesn't getconfused by the other veggie product position he is hiring for in LosAngeles 1645. Harry then causes his ACMAN system to create a few newactivity data objects 1640, 1641, and 1642, as children of 1645. SinceADO expression 1640 “Get Veggie new hire requisition number” is alsorelated to the company's compensation system 1644, Harry might create asecondary parent to child relationship 1643 by dragging ADO expression1640 over to 1644 with his mouse or pointer. Since in this embodiment,the newly created ADOs (1640, 1641, and 1642) are child activity dataobjects to the activity data object 1635′, which is common-idea-tied tothe activity data object 1616″ that Harry's machine area possesses inMax's activity tree, Harry's ACMAN system might automatically update Maxwith these new child activity data object expressions (1640, 1641, and1642) as well. As a result, Max's system might be able to present to Maxnot only the status from Harry's perspective of Harry's ADO expression1635′, but also the supporting child activities that Harry is engagedin. For instance, Harry's ACMAN system might automatically update Max'ssystem with ADO expression 1641 “Post Veggie Job Req”. Max uponexchanging messages might be able to see the representation of thisactivity expression (which might be a foyered activity data object onMax's system). Max may then communicate to Harry to give him somespecific guidance about how he wants the job posting to be done.

FIG. 16C was used to illustrate explicit activity sharing, as opposed tosupervisory activity sharing. FIG. 18A and FIG. 18B describe furtherembodiments of the ADO updating logic of this explicit activity sharing.With supervisor sharing, Harry's ACMAN system can automatically transmitto Harry's indicated supervisor(s) machine area, on a regular or otherbasis, the ones of Harry's ADOs whose privacy settings meet the privacylevel rule(s) for his supervisor(s). But in the case of explicit ADOsharing, Harry's ACMAN system might only update specific ADOs (andoptionally their various parent ADOs) to other people's machines on aper ADO basis, based on which other participant user(s) are explicitlylisted for the given ADO(s). Although many of the descriptions hereinfocus on the ADO sharing aspects of the ACMAN system, it should beassumed that embedded JDIs may optionally be automatically and/ormanually updated to other users accordingly, per the cross referencingextra-journal links between the ones of ADOs to be shared and theirrespective JDIs.

FIG. 18A is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of an activitydata object sharing and updating algorithm for WorkSharing and/or FYISharing sharetypes. Flowing from the top to the bottom of the diagram,this figure illustrates how an ADO and optionally its (parent)progenitor hierarchy(ies) might be shared from Adam's machine area toMax's machine area, and on again from Max's machine area to Harry'smachine area. To begin, Adam's machine area, in this illustration,possesses a set of ADOs corresponding to activity idea expressions heoriginally authored. (Note that occasionally some of the figure legendsand descriptions herein refer to an “idea originator”, but this is aconcise description, and more correctly, we are referring to an “ideaexpression originator”, for instance corresponding to field 1223 of FIG.12A.) These set of ADOs is shown as a branch of Adam's embedded activitytree on Adam's machine area 1801, and includes four ADOs, 1810, 1811,1812, and 1813. (Adam may have many other activity data objects in hisembedded tree, but they are not shown in this diagram.) Each illustratedADO represents one recorded activity description. For instance, ADO 1833represents one recorded activity description. As the legend in FIG. 18Aimplies, this ADO 1833 is owned by Adam (top right “A”), is recorded onHarry's machine area (bottom left “H”) as part of Adam's activity tree(bottom right “A”), indicates a Common Idea Expression Reference (CIER)for original activity idea expression “D”, and indicates that the IdeaOriginator User Name (top left “A”) (for its original activity ideaexpression) is Adam. Other illustrated ADOs, such as 1826 also showsmall “M”s, indicating user name of Max, as opposed to “A” for Adam or“H” for Harry.

In FIG. 18A, Adam causes his system to share and transmit this activitydata object 1813 with Max, either as WorkSharing or FYI. When Adamcauses his system to share and subsequently transmit this activity dataobject, his ACMAN system in one embodiment might also include in thetransmission, copies or partial copies of the hierarchy of primaryparent ADOs from Adam's embedded tree 1810, 1811, and 1812. When Max'sACMAN system initially receives this transmission onto Max's machinearea 1802, these activity data objects might be first identified byMax's ACMAN system as belonging to Adam's activity tree. Since, in thisexample, no ADOs with matching ClERs were already recorded on Max'smachine area, the received ADOs might be recorded in Adam's foyeredactivity tree (1820, 1821, 1822, 1823) on Max's machine area. SupposeMax then accepts involvement in activity idea “D”. He might indicate theADO represented by 1823 to be set as a child activity to his ownexisting activity “F”, represented by ADO 1825, by dragging a presentedicon corresponding to ADO 1823 with his mouse or pointer to a positionbelow an activity description representation corresponding to ADO 1825.At that point, activity data object 1826, which might be an embedded andderived copy of 1823, may be automatically created by Max's ACMANsystem. Now Max would have two common-idea-tied ADOs corresponding tothe original activity idea “D” on his machine, one foyered 1823 and oneembedded 1826. Once an automatic acceptance acknowledgement from Max toAdam arrives on Adam's machine, Adam's machine may also create a foyeredcommon-idea-tied ADO (not shown) representing Max's own expression 1826of activity idea D, as well as foyered ADOs corresponding to the parentactivity descriptions represented by “E” and “F” (1824 and 1825respectively). At this point, any modifications Adam makes to hisembedded ADO 1826 might be opportunistically updated 1858 (as updatingopportunities present themselves, e.g. when Adam's system is coupled toa network) to Adam's machine area 1857, and those changes might bereflected in the foyered common-idea-tied ADO (not shown) on Adam'smachine. The dashed arrow 1858 that touches ADOs 1827 and 1826represents the logical connection that might allow Max's ACMAN system toknow to send updates to Adam's machine area. In one embodiment, thatlogical connection can be identified by Max's ACMAN system because theCommon Idea Expression Reference (CIER, 1222 of FIG. 12A) contained inADO 1826 might indicate the unique user name of “Adam”, and Max's ACMANsystem might look up Adam's contact address in its contact address tableto establish a internet reference location to which to transmit updates.In another embodiment, Max's possessed ADO 1826 might contain an IdeaOriginator User Name & Address (IOUNA, 1223 of FIG. 12A) indicating Adamand possibly Adam's contact address. These data items could be used byMax's ACMAN system to transmit ADO updates to Adam's machine area.Conversely, any changes Adam makes to his ADO 1813 might cause Adam'sACMAN system to automatically transmit 1859 an update of ADO 1813 toMax, because ADO 1813 might contain target participant details insection 1226 (FIG. 12A), which either alone or together with Adam'sACMAN system's contact address table, would enable Adam's ACMAN systemto transmit this ADO updates to Max's machine area at Max's contactaddress. Those updates received on Max's machine area might then bereflected in the foyered common-idea-tied ADO 1823 on Max's machine areaby Max's ACMAN system. Thus ACMAN system users who share one or moreactivity idea expressions can mutually update each other with updates oftheir corresponding and respective embedded ADO(s), and those updatesmight be recorded in the corresponding foyered ADO areas stored on eachreceiving participant's machine area.

Suppose for just a moment (in this paragraph only, to keep matterssimple) that Max's activity “E” 1824 was set to public security level,while his activity “F” 1825 was set to a completely private securitylevel (as explained in FIG. 11). In such a case, Max's system should nottransmit activity description “F” to Adam's machine area. Thus Max'sacceptance acknowledgement/update for activity “D” (1826) might not haveincluded copies of activity hierarchy E-F-D, but rather only copies ofan activity hierarchy of E-D instead. In other words, since the ADOrepresented by 1825 might be too private to share, updates of this ADOfrom Max's system might therefore be automatically skipped.

Now suppose Max decides to express his own original activity idea, sayas activity description, “G” (1827), as a child ADO to his ownedactivity description “D” 1826. Adam might need to monitor Max'sactivities that are related to activity idea “D”. So supporting childactivity descriptions such as “G” 1827 are also going to be importantfor Adam to know about too. Max's ACMAN system needs a way to know toupdate Adam regarding Max's modifications of Max's owned activity dataobjects (like “G” 1827) that are children of activity data objects (like“D” 1826 or even 1823) corresponding to original activity ideaexpressions (like “D”) for which Max is an invited participant. Apossible simple rule for the ACMAN system to update an embedded activitydata object “G” might be: progress up the activity data object'sembedded hierarchy tree (in the “-X” direction) starting with itself(activity data object “G”) and for each activity data object for whichthe Idea Originator is not the same as the embedded tree's owner (whichis the same as the machine area's owner) and for which the activity dataobject is WorkShared or FYI Shared, send updates of “G” to the ContactAddress of the Idea Originator of the activity idea corresponding tothat activity data object. The dashed arrow 1858 from 1827 to 1826 andupward represents one example of that logic. (This simple rule isdescribed in the detailed flow chart of FIG. 20A and will be describedmore later.) As a result, Adam's system would be able to present to Adamrepresentations of 1826 and/or any child activities of 1826 sincereadable copies of these might now be updated to Adam's machine area.

Now suppose further that Max decides to WorkShare his newly createdactivity data object “G” 1827 with Harry. Similar to the exampleillustrated in area 1604 of FIG. 16A, Max's ACMAN system might similarlyprovide FYI Shared copies of the parent activities E-F-D from hisembedded tree (specifically 1824, 1825, and 1826 in FIG. 18A), and Max'sACMAN system might optionally also provide FYI Shared copies of A-B-C-Dfrom Adam's foyered tree (specifically 1820, 1821, 1822, and 1823) thatare possessed by Max's machine area. After receiving this WorkSharingrequest, Harry's ACMAN system may create on his machine area 1803foyered trees for both Adam's and Max's related activity tree branches(see 1830 through 1837), although all of these foyered ADOs except for1837 (WorkShared activity data object “G”) might only be FYI Shared. Ina typical case, Harry might decide just to accept involvement in theactivity represented by “G”. But in another optional case, Harry mightdecide he wants to accept and get actively involved not just in activity“G”, but also in activity “D”. This latter option is illustrated—Harrymight select on-display expressions of both 1836 and 1837 and instructhis ACMAN system to set their ADOs as children to Harry's embeddedactivity “H” (1838). Harry might first instruct his ACMAN system topresent both Max's foyered ADOs and Harry's embedded ADOs in a singlescreen presentation, and then Harry can drag the selected foyered ADOgrouping with his mouse or pointer from the area representing Max'sactivity tree over to an area representing Harry's embedded activitytree, just underneath a graphical representation of ADO “H” 1838. Thismight result in new embedded ADOs 1839 and 1840 on Harry's machine areathat are common-idea-tied ADOs to Max's foyered ADOs (1836 and 1827respectively). Harry might then choose to create an original activityexpression “I”, 1841 of his own. At this point, there may be some morecomplex update logic, and many options to consider, especially since anactivity idea “D” has now been shared from Adam to Max and on again fromMax to Harry. However, one possible simplification is based on the factthat the Idea Originator of activity idea “D” in this example was reallyAdam, even though this activity might be WorkShared now between allthree participants. In one embodiment, the CIER and IOUNA fieldindicators (1222 and 1223 from FIG. 12A) of all of the common-idea-tied“D” activity descriptions (1813, 1823, 1826, 1833, 1836, and 1839)indicate the same respective values. So, instead of updating 1839 toMax, or to both Adam and Max, Harry's system might, in one embodiment,just exchange updates for activity “D” with the idea originating user,which is Adam. While 1833, 1836 and 1839 may all be common-idea-tiedADOs since they share the same Common Idea Expression Reference (CIER),a double association line has only been drawn in this diagram between1833 and 1839 to emphasize that logical updating association. In anotherembodiment, Harry's system might update only Max, or both Max and Adam.However, transmitting updates to the idea originating user simplifiesmessaging processes and requires a lower communications bandwidth. Soagain, the same possible simple rule for the ACMAN system to update amodified embedded activity data object “I” might be: progress up theactivity data object's embedded hierarchy tree (in the “-X” direction)starting with itself (activity data object “I”) and for each activitydata object for which the Idea Originator is not the same as theembedded tree's owner (which is the same as the machine area's owner)and for which the activity data object is WorkShared or FYI Shared, sendupdates of “I” to the Contact Address of the Idea Originator of theactivity idea corresponding to that activity data object. The dashedarrows 1851 and 1850 from 1841 upward to 1861 and to 1860, respectively,represent two examples of that logic. It can be seen by dashed arrow1850 that Harry's ACMAN system might update 1839, and possibly 1840 and1841, to Adam's machine; and Harry's ACMAN system might similarly updateMax's machine with changes to 1840 and possibly 1841, as indicated bydashed arrow 1851.

The downward dashed arrows 1852 and 1864 indicate that, in oneembodiment, updates in the converse direction, received from Adam'smachine area, might update the common-idea-tied foyered activity dataobjects on Harry's machine area 1833 and 1836, respectively, andoptionally (but not indicated with arrows) the respective parent ADOs ofthe foyered ADO 1833. Similarly, downward dashed arrow 1853 indicatesthat updates received from Max's machine area might update thecommon-idea-tied foyered activity data object on Harry's machine, 1837,and optionally the respective parents of the foyered ADO 1837 thatindicate ownership by Max. Note that in one embodiment, illustratedhere, Adam's machine might update 1864 the ADO 1836 even though it is onMax's activity tree. This is because Adam is the Idea Originator for theactivity descriptions represented by “D”, and since ADO 1836 might beWorkShared or FYI Shared among several people's machine areas, the bestand typically most current source of updates related to this activityidea might be from a single source, Adam's machine. Although Max'smachine may have initially provided Harry's machine with an ADO copyrepresenting 1836, Harry's machine might in one embodiment modify theOwner User Name and Address (OUNA) of it's foyered ADO copy 1836 to beAdam, i.e., so that the Owner User Name indication matches the IdeaOriginator User Name for WorkShared and/or FYI Shared activitydescriptions. Harry's ACMAN system might then also transmit a message toAdam's machine area indicating that Harry's machine area possesses aWorkShared or FYI Shared ADO corresponding to activity idea expression“D” (indicated by the CIER), so that Adam's ACMAN system might know toupdate Harry's machine in the future. As a result, such updates fromAdam's machine area are applicable to the ADO 1836 even on Max's foyeredtree, because the indicated owner user name of ADO 1833 is Adam. In analternative embodiment (not shown), Harry's machine might leave theOwner User Name and Address for 1836 as Max, and subsequent updatescorresponding to shared activity description “D” that Max's ACMAN systemmay transmit to Harry's machine area might be recorded into Harry'smachine area ADO of 1836. (In this alternate example, not shown, dashedarrow 1864 would instead point from Max's machine area 1861.)

If Harry's machine area later receives ADO updates transmitted fromother machine areas, Harry's machine area may possess multiplecommon-idea-tied ADOs in different (typically foyered) activity trees.So how might its ACMAN system determine which corresponding ADOs onHarry's local machine area to update? This can be relatively simple.Harry's ACMAN system might read the CIER of a received ADO, then searchon Harry's machine area for any other ADOs with the same CIER. Then forsuch matching ADO(s), if their Owner User Name match(es) thetransmitting user name of the received ADO(s), the received ADOattribute indicators (described in FIG. 12A) can be used to recordmodifications to the stored attributes of the respectively matching ADOsthat were already on Harry's machine area. (This will be described laterin the disclosure with a flow chart in FIG. 21.)

Further to FIG. 18A, which was based on WorkSharing and/or FYI Sharing,FIG. 18B illustrates an embodiment of a possible ADO updating logic forDelegated ADO sharing. In FIG. 18B, suppose that Adam delegates activity“D” (1813′) to Max. Then suppose that Max further delegates activity “D”(1826′) as well as Max's newly created activity “G” 1827′ to Harry. Inthis scenario, Max can be considered to be acting as a subcontractingintermediary between Adam and Harry. Max has accepted the delegationagreement of activity “D” from Adam, so he is fully accountable. Yet hehas further delegated this activity description to Harry. (In oneembodiment, which is illustrated in FIG. 18B, if Max wants thissubcontracting arrangement to be obvious to Harry, Max optionally couldcause his ACMAN system to transmit to Harry, derived copies of Adam'sfoyered activity data objects along with Max's Delegation request, sothat Harry's machine can receive foyered ADOs not only from Max's tree,1834′ through 1837′, but also from Adam's tree, 1830′ through 1833′, aswell.) So instead of Harry directly updating Adam regarding his embeddedversion of activity “D” 1839′, it makes sense for Harry to update Max,and Max in turn to update Adam. This way, if Max needs to review Harry'swork on activity “D” before it is reported back to Adam, he might havethat option. Because Max is delegating activity “D” to Harry, althoughfor foyered ADOs 1833′ and 1836′ the Idea Originator User Name (1223from FIG. 12A) may be Adam, the Owner User Name (from field 1224) mightbe Max. So a possible, simple rule by which the ACMAN system can updatea first embedded ADO such as “D” 1839′ (and/or child ADOs such as 1840′,1841′) might be: progress up the first ADO's embedded hierarchy tree (inthe “-X” direction) starting with the first ADO (e.g. ADO “D” 1839′) andfor each ADO for which the Idea Originator is not the same as theembedded tree's owner (which is the same as the machine area's owner)and for which the activity's Inbound Sharing Status indicator'sShareType is Delegated, find any common-idea-tied foyered ADO(s) (i.e.with the same CIER) on the same machine area, and for each such foundADO, look up its Owner User Name & Address (OUNA) and transmit updatesof the embedded activity data object to each such OUNA contact address(i.e. to that Owner's machine area). This will be further described inthe flowchart of FIG. 20A.

It can be seen by dashed arrow 1856 that Harry's machine might transmitupdates of modifications to 1839′, and optionally 1840′ and 1841′, toMax's machine; and Harry's machine might similarly update Max's machinewith changes to 1840′ and optionally 1841′, as indicated by dashed arrow1851′. But Harry's machine might not update Adam's machine regarding anyof the ADOs with CIERs of “D”, “G”, or “I” directly. Instead, Max'smachine area could store foyered ADO copies (not shown in FIG. 18B)representing Harry's expressions of these activities (1839′, 1840′ and1841′ respectively). Max's machine in turn could transmit updates toAdam's machine area, of derived copies of Max's embedded expressions of“D” (1826′) and “G” (1827′) and/or optionally of foyered copies ofHarry's activity expressions in Max's machine area (not shown) butcorresponding to Harry's embedded activity expressions for “D”, “G”, and“I” (1839′, 1840′ and 1841′ respectively). The downward dashed arrows1855 and 1853′ indicate that updates in the converse direction,transmitted from Max's machine area, might update the common-idea-tiedfoyered activity data objects on Harry's machine area 1836′ and 1837′,and optionally (but not indicated with arrows) the respective parentADOs of these foyered ADOs on Harry's machine area. Furthermore, if Maxwishes to have his subcontracting arrangement be visible, downwarddashed arrow 1854 indicates that Max's machine might update Harry'smachine on behalf of Adam with Max's foyered copies of ADOs from Adam'stree (i.e. a derived copy of ADO 1823′ may be provided as an updatetransmission to Harry's machine area to update the ADO indicated by1833′) and optionally (but not indicated with arrows), the respectiveparents of this foyered ADO 1823′.

FIG. 20A illustrates an embodiment of the examples of FIG. 18A and FIG.18B, in terms of a flow chart. This flow chart indicates a possible setof logical operations and machine-implemented actions that this ACMANsystem might follow in order to automatically update other users ofmodifications a User-X might cause his/her ACMAN system to make to hisembedded ADO(s). It does not attempt to describe updating means for ADOsin which the Outbound Sharing Status (section 1243 and related section1226 in FIG. 12A) indicates User-X has explicitly shared his ADO toother users, because that logic might be relatively straightforward: Ifan embedded ADO has been explicitly shared by its owner, then it's“Outbound Sharing Status” (1243 FIG. 12A) and its “ADO Sharing Details”(1226 FIG. 12A) sections might indicate this, and these sections mayfully contain the indications necessary for the owner's ACMAN system todetermine what machine area address(es) to transmit further updates to.FIG. 20A also does not attempt to describe updating means for ADOs whenpossible asynchronous “supervisor sharing” might be used, since such ADOsharing has been described elsewhere in this disclosure and will beapparent to those skilled in the art. Rather, FIG. 20A focuses on how todetermine update transmissions for ADOs in which User-X has accepted arequest to participate in such ADOs; for example, explicit inboundsharing might be indicated in ADO section 1244 (the “Inbound SharingStatus” section from FIG. 12A), either for the given ADO or for one ofits parent ADOs or both.

In FIG. 20A, a User-X's ACMAN system might, according to some automatedrule or according to direct instruction from User-X, attempt to transmitactivity description updates to other users' machine areas, for recentlymodified first ADOs that are part of User-X's embedded activity tree onUser-X's machine area. Optionally, this transmission might also includeJDIs that are extra-journal linked with the first ADOs, and furthermore,the first to-be-updated ADOs might also include second ADOs that havenot been recently modified but for which the second ADOs areextra-journal linked to JDIs that have recently been modified. This flowchart describes how the ACMAN system, in one embodiment, can determinewhere to transmit updates of any given first ADO (referred to as “ADO-A”in FIG. 20A), and optionally JDIs that are extra-journal linked to thegiven first ADO. Note that some of the flow chart blocks refer toacronyms described in this disclosure, and especially those referred toin FIG. 12A. (Accordingly, descriptions of FIG. 20A herein that indicatefigure references beginning with “12xx” are referring to FIG. 12A.) FIG.18A and FIG. 18B might also be handy references with which to refer towhen reviewing FIG. 20A. Note that “ADO-X” and “ADO-Y” in FIG. 20A mightsimply be temporary variables that serve as references or pointers to agiven ADO storage location. Also note that the “expanded updates option”referred to at 2017 is a possible option, mentioned earlier, in which anACMAN system might transmit updates not only to the contact address oforiginal idea expression users for WorkShared or FYI Shared activitydescriptions, but also other known participants for the given activityidea indicated by “ADO-A”.

Following is a brief description of one embodiment shown in the flowchart of FIG. 20A. Periodically, or when the number of modified butunupdated first ADOs reaches a certain number, or based on any otherrule or the direct instruction from User-X, User-X's ACMAN system willsetup a queue of update transmissions for an ADO-A. The ACMAN systemmight use this flow for one or more of the ADOs on User-X's embedded(owned) activity tree on User-X's machine area. If an ADO or optionallyone or more of its extra-journal linked JDIs have been modified 2002since its last update transmission time, or last ADO synchronizationtime, then the flow proceeds 2002. The ACMAN system looks up and adds toan “Embedded ADO Checklist” 2003 all the primary parent ADOs up to theroot of User-X's embedded tree, and optionally secondary (embedded)parent ADOs of ADO-A and further primary (embedded) parent ADOs of anysuch secondary parent ADOs. The ACMAN system initiates a loop routine inwhich for each loop it assigns a temporary variable ADO-X 2005 to eachsubsequent ADO that is in this “Embedded ADO Checklist”. If the CIERUser Name (1222) or IOUN (1223) is not User-X 2006, then User-X was notthe Activity Idea Expression Originator, so the loop proceeds.

If ADO-X refers to an activity description that was Delegated to User-X(2009, 2010), then this first logical flow (corresponding for instanceto update paths 1851′ and 1856 of FIG. 18B) is followed. Add to a“Foyered ADO CheckList” all foyered ADOs on User-X's machine area thatare common-idea-tied to ADO-X 2011. For each of these 2013 first foyeredcommon-idea-tied ADOs, if the privacy setting (1253) of ADO-A matches oris lower than that of the owner of each respective first foyeredcommon-idea-tied ADO, then ADO-A together with the contact address ofthe owner of the respective first foyered common-idea-tied ADO is addedto the update transmission queue.

If ADO-X refers to an activity description that was WorkShared or FYIShared (2009), then this second logical flow (corresponding for instanceto update paths 1851 and 1850 of FIG. 18A) is followed. If 2015 theprivacy setting (1253) of ADO-A matches or is lower than that of theIOUN (1223) of ADO-X, then ADO-A together with the contact address ofthe IOUNA (1223) of ADO-X is added to the update transmission queue.

This second logical flow as described so far, provides updates to theidea expression originator for an ADO that has been shared to User-X. Itis also possible that a third user could further WorkShare or FYI Sharean activity description for which the third user was not the activityidea expression originator, or IOUN. Although this is only indirectlyimplied by 1836, this possibility was described earlier in theexplanation of FIG. 18A. In one embodiment, it may be desirable to allowfor so-called Expanded Updates for WorkShared and/or FYI Shared activitydescriptions. In this embodiment, an ACMAN system would retain the OwnerUser Name of ADO 1836 as Max (unlike what has been illustrated in FIG.18A). Updates would be sent not only to the activity idea expressionoriginator (IOUN 1223) but also to owners of corresponding foyered ADOs.So if Expanded Updating is used 2017, then the ACMAN system would alsogo through a similar sub-loop routine starting at 2011 in which theADO-A update transmission queue is appended 2019 with owner user namesof foyered ADOs that share the same CIER as ADO-X.

As noted earlier, FIG. 20A does not describe all possible algorithms fordetermining what ADOs and optional JDIs should have updates transmittedor for determining to which respective contact address(es) such updatesshould be transmitted to. One additional scenario that merits a briefdescription is the possible scenario, as is illustrated in FIG. 15, inwhich User-X has created a foyered parent to embedded child ADOrelationship. (I.e., Max has caused ADO expression 1523 to be a child tothe foyered ADO expression 1502. The recorded ADO of 1523 might includea Foyered Parent Pointer (FPP) (1245) indicating ADO 1502 as the foyeredparent.) In this example, Max has not have explicitly shared ADOexpression 1523 from or to any other users, so Max's machine area wouldpossess no other ADOs with the same CIER. But it would still be nice forCharlie Chief to receive automatic updates from Max about Max'ssupporting activity “Heinz Marketing Partnership” 1523 since thatactivity supports Charlie's Corporate MBO activity expression “Establish3 New Distribution Partners” 1502. (Recall that Charlie Chief is theowner user 1224 indicated in ADO 1502.)

Similar to FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B illustrates one embodiment of thesituation described above, but unlike FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B focuses on asituation in which User-X's embedded ADO-A indicates one or more FoyeredParent ADOs. Note that the flow chart of FIG. 20B corresponds veryclosely to that of FIG. 20A. For instance, step 2002′ of FIG. 20B is thesame or at least analogous to the corresponding step 2002 of FIG. 20A.(Note that other similar or at least analogous steps in FIG. 20B alsohave the same reference numbers as in FIG. 20A, plus a prime symbol.)Since the flows are somewhat similar, it is reasonable to assume thatone skilled in the art can reasonably understand FIG. 20B. So only abrief additional explanation is provided herein. Note in particular that2006′ varies from 2006 by considering Foyered Parent Pointers ratherthan CIER user names, and then the subsequent logical loop contains asubset of steps from FIG. 20A. Also, step 2011′ adds Foyered Parent ADOsrather than CIER sharing ADOs to the temporary checklist.

In one embodiment, once the flows of FIG. 20A and/or FIG. 20B arecompleted (2008 and/or 2008′ respectively) for one or more of User-X'sembedded ADO-A's, User-X's ACMAN system might then transmit one or moreof its queued transmission messages from the flow of FIG. 20A and/orfrom the flow of FIG. 20B and/or from any other update flow routines,provided of course that the system is coupled to an appropriatecommunications network. Otherwise the ACMAN system would need to waituntil it was coupled appropriately. In another embodiment, the ACMANsystem might further aggregate and process its queues of updatetransmissions and their respective transmission contact address(es), asis later described in FIG. 19.

Returning back to the example of FIG. 18B, if Harry's machine areareceives transmitted ADO updates from other machine areas, since it maypossess multiple common-idea-tied ADO copies in different (typicallyfoyered) activity trees, how might it determine which corresponding ADOinstances on Harry's machine area to update? In one embodiment, the rulecould be the similar to that described earlier in the example of FIG.18A. Harry's ACMAN system might read the CIER of a newly received ADO,then search on Harry's machine area for any foyered ADOs with the sameCIER. Then for such matching ADO(s), if their Owner User Name match(es)the owner user name of the received ADO(s), the received ADO attributeindications can be used to update the attributes of the respectivematching ADOs that were already stored on Harry's machine area. In afurther embodiment, an Activity Tree User Name (ATUN) attribute (1225 ofFIG. 12A) would also be compared between the received ADO and thealready stored and foyered ADOs, such that the ATUNs instead of or inaddition to the owner user names of the respective ADOs would need tomatch up for the received ADO to be used to update the already storedADOs on Harry's machine area.

Note however, that in this case of Delegated ADOs, ADO 1833′ mightrepresent the state of ADO 1823′, while ADO 1836′ might represent thestate of ADO 1826′, and the respective states of these represented ADOsmay in actuality have some small differences, for instance differentpriority level indications. As such, as the delegating intermediarybetween Adam's machine area and Harry's machine area, Max's ACMAN systemmight transmit updates to Harry's machine area of both Max's embeddedADO 1826′ and of his foyered common-idea-tied ADO 1823′. So aninstructing rule for the ACMAN system when updating a machine area withreceived, delegated ADOs, in an alternative embodiment, may be enhancedslightly from the description given with FIG. 18A (which was alsorepeated in the paragraph above). This can best be described using aflow chart.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart of one embodiment describing a possible set oflogic and actions that a User-X's ACMAN system might follow to determinewhat ADOs on User-X's machine area might need to be updated if an ADO,referred to in this figure as “ADO-B”, is received from another user'smachine area. FIG. 21 describes a possible updating means for ADOsreceived onto User-X's machine area, wherein User-X may or may notalready be an explicit participant of the activity idea expressionrepresented by “ADO-B”, and wherein User-X may or may not be the IdeaOriginator of the corresponding activity idea expression (e.g. User-Xmight instead be an explicitly invited participant to the originalactivity idea expression). Furthermore, “ADO-B” in FIG. 21 mightrepresent an activity idea expression that may have been WorkShared, FYIShared, and/or Delegate Shared to and/or from User-X; or it mightrepresent an activity idea expression that has been automaticallytransmitted to User-X on a supervisory activity sharing basis. 2101 inFIG. 21 indicates that User-X's machine area has received “ADO-B”, andoptionally any JDIs that might be extra-journal linked to this ADO-B.Next, User-X's ACMAN system might “start” 2102 to determine what to dowith this received transmitted signal. First User-X's ACMAN system mightscan 2103 User-X's machine area to find any common-idea-tied ADOs (e.g.CEIR-tied ADOs), which might be determined by finding ADOs with CIERvalues matching that of ADO-B. If none are found, then ADO-B might notbe an update, but rather from User-X's perspective it might be a newlyshared ADO expression 2105. User-X's ACMAN system might in oneembodiment (a) record a slightly derived copy of ADO-B (and optionallyit's extra-journal linked JDIs) in an appropriate foyered location onUser-X's machine area and possibly flag it for later review. User-Xmight be able to set rules in his system to cause his system todetermine whether to automatically flag such newly shared ADO's forreview. For instance, if ADO-B was an explicit invitation for User-X toparticipate (e.g. WorkShare or Delegation) it might be desirable toautomatically flag it for review, while if ADO-B was transmitted on anFYI sharing or an implicit supervisory sharing basis, it might not bedesirable for User-X to review such ADOs. User-X's ACMAN system might inalternative embodiment (b) record ADO-B in a special review inbox, asopposed to immediately recording a derived copy of ADO-B in a foyeredarea. User-X could later review and possibly accept involvement for thatactivity.

Returning to 2104, otherwise, if at least one existing common-idea-tiedADOs has been found, then ADO-B might be an update 2106 to an existingone or more ADOs already on User-X's machine area. In an embodiment ofthe disclosed system wherein the ADO data structure includes an ActivityTree User Name field (ATUN, 1225 of FIG. 12A), steps 2107 and 2109 mightbe used to cause the ADO update to be applied only to ADOs on a specificactivity tree. This might be useful for the specific scenario describedearlier in FIG. 18B, where an update of 1833′ may be distinguished froman update of 1836′. Otherwise, steps 2107 and 2109 may not be necessary.After removing from the “CIER-tied ADO List” any embedded ADOs and anyfoyered ADOs with non-matching Owner User Name indicators, then the listmight contain only the ADOs that should be updated 2110, using thecontents of ADO-B. (Typically, only foyered ADOs might meet theseconditions). Note that while the contents of the received ADO-B may beused to update these remaining listed ADOs, the optional received JDIsthat might be extra-journal linked to the received ADO-B might be usedto update a possible foyered journal set of JDIs. Such foyered JDIsmight similarly be owned by the owner of the received ADO-B.

As one can imagine, with possibly very many activity updates beingmessaged back and forth, the bandwidth requirements on a network or anindividual's machine can increase rapidly. Instead of attempting to sendincremental activity data object updates to other participants on a realtime basis, as each change occurs, it might make sense to batch togetherupdate transmissions. FIG. 19 illustrates possible embodiments ofbatching schemes. In the example of FIG. 19, Charlie Chief causes hissystem to create 1910 a new first activity data object at 10:15am (withActivity Data Object ID of “Charlie_Chief.A”, abbreviated as “CC.A”).Charlie then causes his system to modify two other previously existingembedded activity data objects “CC.B” and “CC.C” (1911 and 1912) at10:17am and 10:18am respectively. Then at 10:25am, Charlie causes hissystem to modify 1913 his embedded copy of the first activity dataobject, “CC.A”. Each of these three activity data objects happens to beDelegated, WorkShared, and/or FYI Shared with various participants, asindicated by the table. If Charlie's machine was to message eachparticipant immediately after each ADO modification was made, this mightresult in at least 4 messages: 1918 at 10:15am, 1919 at 10:17am, 1920 at10:18am, and 1921 at 10:25am. (If transmissions were done immediately assub-portions of ADO modifications were made, such as when each ADOattribute was caused to be modified, then the number of transmissionmessages would be even much greater.) If the messaging needed to bemessaged separately to each participant, for example if the action 1910was then messaged to Max and to Adam separately, this might result in atleast 2 messages; and thus the 4 actions 1910 through 1913 couldpossibly result in a total of at least 2+1+3+2=8 messages.

One possible alternative would be to wait for a predefined time interval1901 to accumulate any updates, batch together the update messages forthat time period, and then automatically send them out to the respectiveparticipants. In this example, since the same ADO, “CC.A”, was modifiedtwice during the interval 1901, such an approach would reduce themessages transmitted from 4 down to 3, as indicated by the batch updateaction 1924. If a user makes a lot of activity data object modificationsduring a time interval, this batching approach can dramatically reducethe number of messages that must be sent, thereby reducing bandwidthrequirements. Furthermore, if Charlie is not able to access an internetconnection for a period of time, this batching approach might benecessary, or at a minimum just very convenient. There might be no wayto send immediate updates (1918 through 1921) to other participants ifthere is no immediate internet connection. Even if an asynchronouslyexchanging email system was available as a container to send updatemessages to other participants, during a single interval, there could beinefficiencies resulting from updates that supercede each other, such as1910 and 1913. If Charlie was not able to access an internet connectionfor a long time, several such pre-set intervals might pass by. So ratherthan storing several redundant updates that supercede each other, aftersome time interval, Charlie's machine might overwrite any of the priorupdate messages waiting to be sent with a more comprehensive set ofupdate messages. In addition, ACMAN may provide Charlie with an optionto force an update transmission before a possible pre-set time intervalis complete. For example, if Charlie knew he was going on a long trip,he might want to cause his system to transmit the updates before heshuts down his machine, which might be before the interval period wouldhave ended to trigger an automatic transmission sequence.

Note that this update messaging scheme is applicable to both ADOs andoptionally to JDIs that may be extra-journal linked with ADOs. Note alsothat the nature of the ADO and the JDI data structures is such that adifferential comparison may not be necessary in order to update otherparticipants. As in 1910 and later 1913, the ACMAN system may not needto keep track of the differences between data structures as each userupdate occurs. Rather, it is sufficient to maintain the lastmodification time of each shared ADO can suffice. When a batch updateevent is triggered (1901 or manually by Charlie) simply checking if agiven ADO has been modified since the last batch transmission time, andif so, messaging the current copy of the given ADO (and optionallyextra-journal linked JDIs) to the other participants. This is possiblebecause both Charlie and his receiving participant machines may maintainboth foyered and embedded copies of ADOs that are common to a sharedactivity idea that they are sharing (and optionally shared extra-journallinked JDI are further tied with their respective ADOs); or if anotheruser is not actively participating (i.e. accepting involvement) but issimply receiving updates from Charlie, their machine area might juststore a foyered copy of the most current received ADO from Charlie. As aresult, simply sending the latest copy of an ADO (and optional JDI) maybe sufficient. This could be accommodated by querying each relevant ADOand referencing the ADO data structure field 1232 (FIG. 12A, containingLast ADO Modification Time and Last ADO Sync Time) to determine for eachADO if it may be necessary to send updates to participants.Alternatively, a transactions table (such as 320 of FIG. 3) mightmaintain a record of batch update times and/or of ADO modificationtimes, so that the transactions table can be searched to determine morequickly which ADOs (and optionally JDIs) should be accessed andtransmitted as updates to other users. Similarly, if JDIs are optionallyupdated to each other, querying the JDIs' data structures 951 a (FIG.9A, containing Last Modification Time Stamp) may be sufficient for theACMAN system to know which JDIs may be recently modified and may need tobe sent to participants of the associated ADO(s). From a receiver'sperspective, if Harry's ACMAN system was receiving an ADO update 1924 ofADO ID “CC.C” from Charlie, all his system may need to do is search thefoyered ADOs on the receiver's (Harry's) machine area, and if acorresponding ADO is found with the same Common Idea ExpressionReference (CIER, from FIG. 12A, 1222) and with “Charlie” as the OwnerUser Name (from OUNA field 1224), then Max's system can just overwriteattributes in the older copy with attribute values from the new one, orpossibly with slight modifications of the contents of the new one. If nomatch is found on Max's machine area, then Max's system can add thereceived ADO to Max's machine area's foyered tree for Charlie, andpossibly flag that ADO or add that ADO to Max's stack ofnot-yet-reviewed sharing requests.

Another possible way to efficiently update participants might be tobatch and combine together the latest update copies of each recentlymodified and embedded ADO on a per-participant basis, as opposed to on aper-ADO basis. We can call this possible option “Auto-Compile & Send”1914. “Auto-Compile & Send” suggests that the ACMAN system might, pereach participant for the ADOs to be updated, aggregate the newly createdADOs and/or the updated ADOs (and optionally the JDIs for new and/orupdated extra-journal linked JDIs); then compile these objects into onepossibly compressed and/or encrypted text and/or binary file, and thenautomatically transmit each such compiled file to each respectiveparticipant, as indicated by 1925, 1926, and 1927. Each respectiveparticipant might then receive their batch update file, uncompress it,decrypt it and separate out each such received file into its respectiveone or more objects, and then update their possibly matching respectivefoyered activity tree objects (and optionally JDIs) accordingly. Thisscheme might reduce the number of messages greatly for small teams ofclosely working people, i.e. if the number of participants is low butthe number of ADOs they are working on together is high. For instance,Charlie Chief may have a lot of ADOs and updates that are for AdamAssistant and nobody else. Imagine FIG. 19 as if Max and Harry were notparticipants in any of the ADOs shown. Then an “auto-compile & send”transmission to Adam 1926 might result in one message sent, as opposedto a regular batch update 1924 which might comprise three updatemessages transmitted from Charlie's machine area to Adam's machine area.Of course, if only a single update is made to an activity data objectthat is shared by 20 participants, it would then be more efficient tosend this single update to 20 participants as one message (or email)with a 20 person recipient list. The more efficient method, or someintermediate variant thereof, might be chosen by the ACMAN system duringrun time.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of View related items, that a user may be ableto select in order to cause his system to execute various presentationinstructions. Such menu item selection methods can include clicking witha mouse or pointer, using shortcut keys (e.g. keyboard “Control” and/or“Alt” key combinations), voice commands, and other user interface menuselection methods that are familiar to those skilled in the art. A briefdescription of some of the View related menu items follows. Forconvenience, we'll assume the machine area owning user who is using thedisclosed system in FIG. 22 (as well as in following FIG. 23, FIG. 24A,FIG. 24B, FIG. 25A, FIG. 25B, FIG. 26, and FIG. 27) is Max.

However, before describing user interface commands of FIG. 22, let'sfirst look at what Max's screen might look like below the menu commandarea. FIG. 24A is a schematic diagram showing a user interfacepresentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneouslypresents to a given user his owned expressions of activity descriptionsand/or associated journal data items, where presentation options areprovided for presenting rows and/or columns of activity descriptionexpression values according to their or others' owned activitydescription expressions. In this illustration, Max had predefinedmeta-search, filter, and sort buttons 2442, 2443, and 2444, and he alsoindicated a name for those predefined presentation buttons—for instancehe named 2442 as “Today's Priorities”. Max then selected this button2442, possibly by clicking it once with his pointer. As a result, hisACMAN system filtered and sorted his activities area 2410 to onlypresent the possibly sorted activity description expressions whose ADOsmet the filtering criteria Max specified, and which his system recorded.Max also selected the option 2427 to cause his system to present in thejournal area 2420 expressions of only Max's owned 2419 JDIs that areextra-journal linked with the underlying ADOs whose expressions arecurrently presented in the activities area. In one embodiment, theoption to have the journal area be automatically presented in “StandardJournal Mode” vs. “Selection-Filtered Journal Mode” would also berecorded as a user preference in the pre-programmed buttons, such as2442.

Returning to FIG. 22, Max now wants to see what his same filteredactivities look like from the viewpoint of Harry. FIG. 22 illustrates aportion of Max's screen after Max has clicked on the “View” item in themenu selection area (2402 of FIG. 24A). Other presentations could alsobe on-display, such as portions of the Activities area and Journal areaof FIG. 24A, but for ease of illustration, in FIG. 22 (as well as inFIG. 23, FIG. 26, and FIG. 27) only the menu and related commandselection and/or sub-menu presentation areas are illustrated. Max hasclicked “View” 2202, and then further clicked “View My Activities as . .. ” 2212. This might cause a small pop-up selection window 2240 to bepresented. Once the popup window 2240 appears, Max can use his mouse orpointer 2246 to indicate “Harry” 2242 as the user whose owned activitiesMax would like to have presented to himself (to Max). There may be anumber of users that Max could choose from, including reverting back tojust seeing his own activity expressions (2245). In one embodimentwherein Delegated sharing restricts sharing an owned activity to onlyone other user, the “Delegated-To participant(s)” option 2244 could bechosen instead. This would cause Max's system to present his ownedactivities from the viewpoint of the delegated to participant, even ifrespectively different activity expressions in the activities panepresentation area had underlying ADOs indicating respectively differentDelegated-To participants. Anyway, returning to the situation shownspecifically in FIG. 22, Max has selected “Harry” 2242, and thisselection is presented in the top of the drop down list 2241. Max thencan select “OK” 2246 to initiate the command to his ACMAN system tore-present the on-display presentation.

FIG. 24B is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure, similar to FIG. 24A, but showing theuser interface after the just above described (in FIG. 22) machineinstructions Max has issued to his ACMAN system—Max has indicatedinstructions to his machine to present Max's activities as Harry'sactivities. More specifically, Max's machine area has stored Max'sembedded activity descriptions (which were on-display in FIG. 24A), andit also has stored Harry's foyered ADOs (i.e. owned by Harry), many ofwhich are common-idea-tied respectively with the underlying ADOs whoseexpressions were on-display in the activities pane 2410 in FIG. 24A.These common-idea-tied ADOs might for instance share the same CIERsrespectively as the ADOs whose expressions were on-display in theactivities pane 2410 in FIG. 24A. FIG. 24B shows two activitydescription expressions owned by Harry. The owner of each on-displayactivity description expressions in this embodiment is indicated in thepresentation area 2431′. Note that only two (the corresponding two thatare on-display in FIG. 24B, 2451 and 2453) of the activity descriptionexpressions that were owned by Max were shared with Harry. Note furtherby comparing FIG. 24B with FIG. 24A, that the presented values of therespective underlying ADO attributes might vary between Max's embeddedactivities (FIG. 24A) versus the common-idea-tied, foyered activities ofHarry (FIG. 24B). For instance, activity description expression 2453shows that Harry has a different perception as well as a differentrelative organization of the common-idea-tied activity description thanMax has. For Harry, this activity description, “Hire Max's Vegetableproduct line manger” (see column 2438′ intersection with row 2453) is achild in a primary parent activity tree of “[Harry's Activities . . .]\Work\Recruiting\Denver\” (see column 2432′ intersection with row2453). Note that in one embodiment, ADOs include primary parent pointers(as in 1236 in FIG. 12A) but not necessary complete primary pathinformation; so the presentation of Harry's primary parent tree might beconstructed by reading the parent pointer indicators of the ADOunderlying the on-display activity description, as well as those of therespective parent, grandparent, and further progenitor ADOs up toHarry's primary tree root ADO.

The common-idea-tied activity description for Max, i.e. on Max'sembedded ADO, may have some differently described attributes fromHarry's foyered ADO. For instance, the corresponding primary parentactivity description hierarchy path “My [Max's] Activities\Work\Staff”(see in column 2432. Also, Max's long activity descriptor indicates“Hire Product Manager for Vegetable product line” (in column 2438).There may be other differences as well. For Max, the priority is high (3stars, as in 2414), while for Harry, the priority is lower, althoughHarry has given himself a due date (2 stars, and Aug. 1, 2003 due dateas in 2414′ and 2417′ respectively). in one embodiment shown here,Harry's ADOs were updated to Max and included their respectiveextra-journal linked JDIs. So when Max modified the owner view from Maxto Harry (FIG. 24A to FIG. 24B), since Max left the journal pane area inSelection-Filtered Journal Mode, the extra-journal linked journal dataitem expressions presented in the journal pane area might bere-presented to display Harry's foyered JDIs that might extra-journallinked with Harry's foyered ADOs.

Since Max's machine might store both the embedded and the foyered ADOsand respectively linked JDIs on Max's machine area, Max's machine couldbe completely uncoupled from any telecommunications or other networks,yet his system could still present these differently owned expressionsto him, at least to the extent that Max's machine area has received andrecorded updated derived copies of corresponding ADOs (and optionallyJDIs) from other users' machine areas, such as Harry's. In the case ofactivity description expression 2451, Max's machine area may not havereceived any response yet from Harry's machine about that activityexpression that Max's system transmitted to Harry's machine area. Noticethat the Sharing Status (intersection of row 2451 and column 2416′)shows “Waiting”, which might indicate that Max's system sent a Sharingrequest to Harry, but Max's machine area has not yet received a responsefrom Harry's machine area. (See FIG. 7 for further sharing state displayoptions.) As a result, in one embodiment, Max's system may have alreadyderived and recorded a corresponding foyered ADO for Harry,commonly-idea-tied to Max's ADO, although many of its attributes may beas yet unknown, or at best assumed. Max's system might not have anyknowledge at all what the primary hierarchy path of Harry'scommon-idea-tied ADO (pertaining to “Write up cookie handlingspecification with quality group”) 2451 might be. However, Max's systemmight assume, until it gets any updates from Harry's machine, that thisfoyered ADO expression should for now include the same values for atleast its short activity descriptor indicator, priority indicator, duedate, and long activity descriptor indicator attributes as Max has forhis corresponding embedded activity description.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a user interface for auser, such as Max, to indicate his preferred set and order of activitydescription attributes, and to thereby cause his system to present atabular or spreadsheet presentation of activity description expressionsaccordingly. Max might be able to modify these settings and cause hisACMAN system to record them on his machine area (for instance, recordedin section 317 in FIG. 3). Max might first select with his pointer themenu option 2218 in FIG. 22, “Select Fields to Present . . . ”. Then apopup window 2311 such as is illustrated in FIG. 23 might be presented.On the left hand side of this popup window might be presented a set ofpossible tabular column, or field name, choices from which Max canchoose to have on-display in his main activities pane area 2410. Max canuse his pointer to select a one or more field names on the left. In theexample of FIG. 23, Max has selected the “Long Activity Description”field name 2305, which is used to present expressions of the LongActivity Descriptor indicator for on-display ADOs. Max can move selectedfield names from the available list on the left 2301 over to the set ofto-be-displayed field names on the right 2303 by clicking on the right(or conversely the left) directional arrow(s) with his pointer as shown2302. As in this example, it can be seen that Max may have just includedfield name “Long Activity Description” 2310 into the right-hand sectionof to-be-displayed field names. (Note that the field names in FIG. 23may or may not correspond exactly with the ADO attribute names of FIG.12A. In some cases, a near literal representation of an ADO attributeexpression may be appropriate. In other cases, for instance, the “ParentActivity(s)” field name, which might display the entire primary parentpath for a given activity description, the presentations correspondingto the field name may be a derived representation of one or moreindicated ADO attribute values. Also, this FIG. 23 is intended toportray what might be presented to an end user like Max, as opposed to aset of literal one to one correlations of ADO attribute names asembodied in FIG. 12A.) Max might be able to change the display order2304 of the field names by selecting a field name such as 2310 and thenclicking on the up or down arrows to modify the setting 2308 for a givenfield name. When complete, Max can select the “OK” button 2312 to causehis system to record and enable the indicated settings. Indeed, thefield Max has chosen in the illustration of FIG. 23 are also shown inthe on-display presentation of both FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B. By giving Maxthe flexibility to select which fields for his machine to present, Maxcan remove what he might consider to be clutter from his presentedviews, and/or focus on specific items in a way that works best for hiscustom way of managing his activities.

Further, although not shown directly in FIG. 23, Max could, in oneembodiment, choose to cause his system to display two of the same fieldnames as separate columns in one integrated presentation. Although thatmight seem wasteful, this might provide a useful tool for Max to monitorshared activities. For instance, although the field name “ADO Priority”is already included on the right hand side 2303 of to-be-displayed fieldnames with field name presentation order 2304 of “4”, Max could forinstance select “ADO Priority” 2306 on the left hand side, click theright directional arrow again 2302 and cause “ADO Priority” to appeartwice on the right hand side 2303. (This is not directly shown in FIG.23.) He could conversely remove the “ADO Status” field name 2313 fromthe right hand side by clicking with his pointer on the left directionalarrow 231-4. He could then modify the field name ordering to hispreference, and click “OK” 2312. This might cause his system to changethe activity display pane area presentation from including the columnsshown in FIG. 24B (2431′ through 2438′) to including the columns in FIG.24C (2431″ through 2438″).

FIG. 24C is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser, such as Max, a combination of his and other user's expressions ofactivity descriptions and/or associated journal data items, wherepresentation options are provided for presenting rows and/or columns ofactivity description expression values according to their or others'owned activity description expressions. First, it may help to observe inFIG. 24C (as well as FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B) that the top row of the8-column wide activities pane area of the illustrated screenpresentation shows user name tabs (2411″ through 2418″, and 2419″). Inone embodiment, these tabs are an optional presentation option that auser can turn on or off. For example, see briefly FIG. 22—here thatoption is set to on, as indicated by the checked “View” 2202 option,“Enable View-By Field Tabs” 2215. Max could deselect this option, andthese tabs might default to a setting to present only Max's embedded ADOexpression values (as illustrated in area 610 of FIG. 6A, where thereare no such tabs on-display). However, in FIG. 24C, Max has caused thisoption to be enabled. Furthermore, while the two presented activitydescription expressions reflect the attribute values corresponding toHarry's foyered ADO attributes, any column View-By tab (e.g. 2415″showing “Max”) in which the user name is not the same as the “Owner UserName” View-By tab (e.g. 2411″ showing “Harry”) might cause the ACMANsystem to present that column's (e.g. 2415″) expressed valuescorresponding to the column's indicated (“Max”) owned common-idea-tiedADO attributes. So FIG. 24C shows how Max can readily review the foyeredactivity descriptions that Harry is involved in and that correspond toMax's embedded, common-idea-tied activity descriptions. And furthermore,Max can see how Max's priority indications compare versus those ofHarry. As Max can see in the illustration of FIG. 24C, Max's priority tohire the “Veggie Prod. Mgr” is 3 stars (column 2435″), while Harry'spriority for Harry's expression of the common-idea-tied activitydescription is only 2 stars (column 2434″). After observing this, Maxmay decide he should talk to Harry to ensure that Harry understands thepriority of this activity.

Max might not want to focus only on one participant's, Harry's,expressions of Max's common-idea-tied activity descriptions and optionalJDIs. Max may want to consider a first shared activity (typically one ofhis embedded activity description expressions) and see the presentedexpressions of other participants for that activity. In one embodiment(see FIG. 18A), other alike machines whose owner users are participantsin the given common-idea-tied activity, might have manually and/orautomatically responded back to update Max's machine with their recentderived copies of their corresponding activity description expressions.Clicking his pointer on menu option 2213 of FIG. 22, “View participantversions of selected activity”, provides Max with a means to instructhis machine to present his embedded and foyered ADO expressions in sucha manner.

FIG. 25A is a schematic diagram showing a user interface presentation inaccordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents to a givenuser, for instance Max, in a tabular or spreadsheet format, expressionsof his owned activity descriptions as well as expressions ofrespectively related activity descriptions owned by one or more otherusers. In particular in FIG. 25A, Max might have selected 2502 thepresented ADO expression of “Write up cookie handling specification withquality group” 2503. He might next have turned on the view option 2213(in FIG. 22), causing a checkmark to appear by that menu option. (InFIG. 22, menu option 2213 is shown turned off; if it was turned on, acheckmark rather than an empty “( )” symbol might appear.) Afterselecting this menu option, the lower section 2520 of “ParticipantVersions of Selected Activity (and Respective Child Versions)” might beautomatically presented. Conversely, Max could have turned on menuoption 2213 and then selected the activity description expression 2503to cause the lower section 2520 to appear instead. In any case, the ADOsunderlying activity description expressions 2521, 2522, and 2525 mightindicate some corresponding relationship with Max's embedded andselected activity description expression, as indicated by the blackauto-selection indicators the left hand side of their on-displaypresentations. These three ADO expressions, 2521, 2522, and 2525, mightcorrespond to foyered ADOs (of Harry, Adam, and Tom respectively) thatare common-idea-tied to Max's selected and embedded ADO underlyingexpression 2503. With this automatic presentation, Max can monitor in anintegrated presentation, the activity expressions of his as well asthose of one or more other participants to understand what theirrespective perceptions might be. For instance, Max can see that Harrymight not yet be aware of the sharing request (since his “ParentActivity(s)” field is blank), while Adam has augmented the Long ActivityDescriptor indicator to include the specific specification number“CH-4102” that he might need to use, and Tom, who is a quality groupmember, has augmented his description to better fit his view of theworld. Note that each owner, Max, Harry, Adam, and Tom can each havetheir own preferred expressions to describe the original common ideaexpression, possibly including different hierarchical organizations,short activity descriptor indicators, priorities, status, etc. Further,if any of them modify their expressions on their alike machine areas,their machines might automatically send Max's machine area an updatetransmission, which could cause Max's machine to further automaticallyupdate its corresponding stored foyered ADO. In turn, Max's machinemight present such updated expressions to Max.

In addition, FIG. 25A illustrates an embodiment of the disclosed system,whose aspects were described in FIG. 18A, FIG. 20, and FIG. 21, in whichACMAN systems can automatically share and intercommunicate childactivities of accepted shared activities. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 25A, Max may have selected an option to include in the automaticpresentation the child ADO expressions, if any, (2523, 2524, and 2526)of the respectively foyered, common-idea-tied (relative to 2503) ADOexpressions. For instance, Adam's machine area may have received aWorkSharing request corresponding to 2503, and then Adam may haveaccepted involvement and caused his system to integrate a derived copywith Adam's own corresponding expressions (a derived copy of which isexpressed at 2522) into his, Adam's, owned embedded activities. Adam maythen have created his own new child activities, or alternativelyorganized his existing activities as child activities to his newly owned“Cookie spec” activity. These child activities might be described byAdam as “Draft handling constraints listing” and “Obtain operator &equipment cost figures”. Consequently, since Adam's privacy levelsettings may have been public enough for his system to automaticallyshare these expressions to Max's machine area, Adam's machine might havetransmitted derived ADO copies to Max's machine area, possibly on an FYISharing basis. In FIG. 25A, updated expressions of these respectivelyderived, child activity description copies that have been transmitted toMax's machine area and processed by Max's system, are presented as 2523and 2524.

Max might further wish to see the presentation of 25A modified from atabular, for example spreadsheet, form, to a graphical, for exampledrawn hierarchical tree with icons, form. FIG. 25B is a schematicdiagram showing a user interface presentation in accordance with thedisclosure which simultaneously presents to a given user such as Max, ina graphical or icon-based format, expressions of Max's owned activitydescriptions as well as expressions of respectively related, foyeredactivity descriptions owned by one or more other users. Max couldinstruct his system to change the presentation by selecting the menuoption 2216 of FIG. 22, “Activity Area in Graphical Mode”. Previously,for FIG. 25A, this possible feature was set as “Activity Area inSpreadsheet Mode” 2217 (FIG. 22). But Max can in one embodiment, togglethe presented views from one mode back and forth to the other. In FIG.25B, a graphical icon mode is illustrated, corresponding to thepresentation of FIG. 25A. Here, the activity description expressionpresentations may have less detail shown per ADO expression, but theirhierarchical relationships might be more easily understandable sincemany of the individual ADO expressions are laid out graphically, inrelation to each other in a tree-like structure. Note that in theembodiment shown, the icons in FIG. 25B correspond with the tabular orspreadsheet items in FIG. 25A. For instance, top and bottom areas 2530and 2550 correspond respectively to top and bottom areas 2510 and 2520of FIG. 25A. The set of Max's activity description expressions 2531through 2533 correspond to the set of Max's activity descriptionexpressions in FIG. 25A in area 2510, and more specifically with 2503.The set of Harry's activity description expressions 2551 through 2552correspond to the set of Harry's activity description expressions inFIG. 25A of 2521. The set of Adam's activity description expressions2554 through 2559 correspond to the set of Adam's activity descriptionexpressions in FIG. 25A pertaining to 2522 through 2524. The set ofTom's activity description expressions 2560 through 2564 correspond tothe set of Tom's activity description expressions in FIG. 25A pertainingto 2525 through 2526.

In FIG. 25B, Max's owned activity description expression “Handling Spec”2536 is selected 2503′ (FIG. 25B), and this corresponds to the selecteditem 2503 in FIG. 25A. Note that the icon text “Handling Spec” 2536might correspond to the short activity descriptor field indicator ofthat corresponding underlying ADO, as can also be seen in FIG. 25A (atthe intersection of row 2503 and column of 2513). In one embodiment, anACMAN system may provide automatic and/or manual options to compressMax's tree presentation to a simple representation focussing on theactivity or subset of activities Max indicates that he is specificallyinterested in. (Max might be able to click his pointer 2535 on the pointat 2532 to expand, and on alternate clicks compress, that hidden branchof activity expressions.) Corresponding to the presentation of FIG. 25A,the common-idea-tied foyered ADO expressions, corresponding to Max'sowned selected expression, are also auto-selected in FIG. 25B (2552,2557, and 2563). Respective child ADO expressions, if any, might alsocorrespondingly be presented as in 2558, 2559, and 2564. Theirrespective primary (and optionally secondary but not shown) parentactivity trees might be presented as well. Icons 2556, 2555, and 2554and connecting lines or other indicators might correspond to the primaryparent activity tree, or path, indicated by the partially obscuredpresentation in FIG. 25A (at the intersection of row 2522 and column2512). Also, if Max were to drag his pointer 2535 and hold it over ADOexpression 2559, a popup box might be presented to indicate the longactivity descriptor value “Obtain operator & equipment cost figures”2553 for the given underlying ADO. If Max were to double-click hispointer on 2559, possibly other more detailed information about Adam'sfoyered activity description expression might be presented includingsome or all of the presentable field names that were described in theleft-hand side of FIG. 23 (2301).

Returning to FIG. 22, we'll describe some of the other possible “View”2202 menu commands that an ACMAN system may provide to a user such asMax. By clicking on “View My Activities” 2211, Max could cause hissystem to present only Max's owned (embedded) activity descriptionexpressions. 2212 and 2213 have already been described. Selecting option2214 “Supervise Activities of (User x) . . . ” might cause a popupwindow such as 2240 to be presented. By selecting another user name,such as “Harry”, Max could cause Max's system to present the foyeredactivity description expressions of Harry's, which may be stored onMax's machine area. The resulting presentation might include Harry'sactivities whether or not they are common-idea-tied with any of Max'sembedded ADOs. In other words, the resulting presentation might includefoyered ADO expressions of Harry's for which Max has no correspondinglyshared activity description. This mode of presentation would allow Maxto monitor and/or supervise activity expressions of other users, to theextent that the other said users' machines have transmitted updates toMax's machine area. Menu options 2216 through 2218 have already beendescribed. Selecting 2219 and 2220 might cause the ACMAN system topresent back to previous views, or go forward, according to a possiblestack of view instruction history that might be recorded in atransactions table (as in FIG. 3, 320). This go back or forwardpresentation function might be replicated by the buttons indicated by618 in FIG. 6A. Menu option 2221 “Zoom . . . ” might provide Max with arange of options for which to cause his system to automatically presenta further magnified or de-magnified view of some portion or all ofvarious ACMAN system presentations, including but not limited to 2400 ofFIG. 24A and 2500′ of FIG. 25B. Menu items 2222 and 2223 have alreadybeen described. Menu item 2224 might cause Max's ACMAN system to presentindications of activity-journal links, or extra-journal links, forinstance as in FIG. 6D 631 between some or all presented and/oron-display activity description expressions in the activities area610′″, and their respectively extra-journal linked and presented and/oron-display journal data item expressions. In one embodiment, if 2224 ischeckmarked to an on position but no activity description expressions orjournal items are selected, then extra-journal link indications may bepresented between each respectively presented and/or on-display activitydescription expression and journal item expression pairs for whichextra-journal links have been recorded. Menu command options 2225 and2226 (“Local Journal Data Items” and “Remote Journal Data Items”respectively) provide Max with the ability to instruct his machine topresent any in a journal pane area, a possibly integrated combination oflocally stored journal items (stored on Max's machine area) andexternally stored journal items (stored on some external machine areanot owned by Max, a web server, or other remote location not owned byMax). This was described earlier in the description of FIG. 9A, 914. Butbasically, presenting remote journal items might typically require anactive coupling to a network or appropriate telecommunications systemfor which Max's ACMAN system could obtain the data to present. Also,option 2226 might only activate, in one embodiment, if Max had one ormore activity description expressions selected, or some otherindication, to indicate to Max's ACMAN system what network web forum orother online storage area should be referenced for presenting theappropriate journal item(s), if any. Finally, 2227 indicates that theremight be other “View” 2202 menu options not shown or described herein.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of File management 2601, Search and Filtering2604, and other Tools related items 2606 that a user may be able toselect in order to cause his system to execute various instructions.Many other menu structures and variations are also possible. As oneskilled in the art might recognize, it would be unusual for three toplevel menu structures (“File”, “Search”, and “Tools”) to be selected anddropped down concurrently, as FIG. 26 could seem to indicate. Indeed, inpractice, typically only one tree of menu structures might be droppeddown at a given time, and this illustration is drawn with all three menuoptions dropped down concurrently just for the purpose of more conciseillustration. (FIG. 27 will also be shown with two menu options droppeddown concurrently, but similarly, that is also just for the purpose ofmore concise illustration.) A “File” menu option 2601 might include asub-menu option to “Open . . . ” 2611 a specific file, folder, and/ordatabase including a user's machine area stored activity descriptionsand/or journal data items, which might be embedded and/or foyered ones.For instance, Max could “Open . . . ” and cause his ACMAN system toactively enable access to some or all of the recorded data that isincluded in FIG. 3 312. In one embodiment, a given person might havemultiple ACMAN system user names, and the “Open . . . ” option could beused to open for access more than one username's ACMAN system data,possibly even concurrently. The “Open” 2611 option could also allow auser, such as Max, to open an archived set of older activitydescriptions and/or journal data items. “Close” 2612 could respectivelyclose one or more user indicated files, folders and/or databases thathad previously been opened. “Setup User Identity . . . ” 2613 could beused to set a default user name identity in a machine installed ACMANsystem, as well as, in one embodiment, to record for each user namesetup in the machine installed ACMAN system, the machine area locationsof files, folders or databases as described in the machine area of FIG.3 312. By recording on an ACMAN system a default user name andassociated default activities folder, journal folder, and other machinestored areas as illustrated in FIG. 3, 312, Max might be able to quicklystartup his ACMAN software application, and then his relevant activitiesand journal items could automatically be appropriately presentedimmediately.

The “Archive” and “Save . . . ” sub-menu option 2617 might provide Maxwith options to cause his machine to move specified activities and/orjournal information, possibly according to some date ranges that Maxmight specify for archiving purposes, from his default machine area(FIG. 3 312) into one or more separate files, folders, and/or databases(FIG. 3 301). Note that in the embodiment shown, there is no “File” and“Save” menu option needed for Max to manually cause his ACMAN system torecord Max's frequent ADO expression and/or JDI expression modificationsto his machine area, because in that embodiment, the ACMAN system mightperiodically and automatically record (e.g. to some form of non-volatilestorage) any such user modifications nearly immediately after eachexpression modification that Max causes through his machine userinterface. The “Archive” and “Import . . . ” sub-menu option 2618 mightprovide Max with a means to cause his system to copy archived storedactivity and/or journal information into his user name default storagearea 312 (FIG. 3), and/or possibly into another set of activity and/orjournal files, folders, and/or databases. In so doing, Max could causehis machine to integrate archived ACMAN system data for one user nameinto the default ACMAN system data for another or the same user name, asdesired. The “Print . . . ” option 2616 might allow Max to cause hismachine to print expressions of his machine area stored or otherwisestored data (including activity descriptions and/or journal items) ontoa physically printed document, such as on paper, transparency, and/or toa postscript file, “.PDF” file, or otherwise. Print options couldinclude a wide variety of options, but in principle, could provide Maxwith a means to transfer to printed matter expressions or portions ofexpressions as represented in 600 (FIG. 6A), 600′ (FIG. 6B), 600″ (FIG.6C), 600′″ (FIG. 6D), 2400 (FIG. 24A), 2400′ (FIG. 24B), 2400″ (FIG.24C), 2500 (FIG. 25A), 2500′ (FIG. 25B), 901 (FIG. 9A), the expressionswithin the screen border 1698 of FIG. 16B, and/or possibly any of thewithin-screen presentation areas of the figures in this disclosure. Inaddition, the print option might provide an option to provide user meansto indicate and cause to print a filtered and/or sorted set of activitydescription expressions and correspondingly extra-journal linked journalitem expressions, wherein the printed journal items are grouped by theirrespectively linked activity description expressions, and further sortedby their journal data item timestamp indicator(s). In such a way, Maxcould click his “Today's Priorities” 2442 (FIG. 24A), then select “Print. . . ” 2614, and pick up from his printer a printed grouped listing ofhis top activity description expressions, each followed by the sorted,respective journal item expressions that are extra-journal linked toeach such respective activity description expression. There might beother “File” 2601 sub-menu items 2615, not explicitly described here.Finally, the “Exit” option 2616 might cause Max's machine to close downand exit the ACMAN system application, and optionally to automaticallyrecord to Max's machine area any as of yet unrecorded ACMAN systemrelated information.

The “Search” menu 2604 in one embodiment might include several sub-menuitems, a portion of which are illustrated in FIG. 26. A“Selection-Filter” 2630 menu item might include several sub-menu items,such as “Create New . . . ”, “Modify . . . ”, and “Delete . . . ” (2633,2635, and 2634 respectively). Max's clicking on “Create new . . . ” 2633might cause his system to initiate the subroutine that clicking onbutton 2441 (FIG. 24A) might otherwise cause to execute, wherein Max canspecify a set of search, filter, and/or sorting options to apply to hisactivity description and/or journal presentation panes. However, the“Create New . . . ” 2633 option could also provide Max with a means tosave these search, filter, and/or sort instructions as a predefinedbutton, as in the examples of 2442, 2443, and 2444. The resultingpredefined button settings might be recorded in machine area 317 of FIG.3. “Modify . . . ” 2635 might allow Max to select a predefined button(such as 2442 of FIG. 24A) and further modify and record to Max'smachine area the predefined search, filter, and/or sort criteria of thatbutton. “Delete . . . ” might allow Max to select a predefined buttonand delete its stored button name and stored instructions and/orsettings from Max's machine storage area 312 (FIG. 3).

The “Find . . . ” menu option 2631 might provide Max with a means tocause his ACMAN system to find and present string-, string & wildcard-,other pattern-, and/or other translated pattern-matching activitydescriptions or journal items within Max's on-display presentation. Sucha find operation might also find matching item occurrences outside theon-display presentation but stored on Max's machine area, and/or even inan extra-journal linked external journal item and/or web forum. In oneembodiment, Max might enter in the “Find . . . ” presented userinterface, an expression “big car”. Max's ACMAN system might translatethis pattern into Spanish language (“auto grande”), and then find inMax's machine area or in Max's on-display presentation, occurrences ofboth or either of “big car” and “auto grande”, and then present thatdata expression. In another possible example, Max might inputhandwritten scribble, Digital Ink, or other formats of digitallyrecorded handwriting, using a pointer or other means, and Max's ACMANsystem might translate this pattern into ASCII text, or Unicodecharacters, or other structured character sets in order to then find andthen present a matching pattern in Max's machine area, in Max'son-display presentation, and/or elsewhere. Max might instead choose to“Go To . . . ” 2632 a certain date or date range of his journalpresentation. By selecting this menu option, Max could cause his systemto “Go To” and present at least a so-specified portion of his journalpane area (as in 620′).

A possible “Tools” menu item 2606 might include several other possiblesub-menu items. “Create & Register Custom Field . . . ” 2650 might allowMax to create a custom ADO data structure attribute to suit hispreferences. Then optionally, Max might be able to register that newlycreated attribute name and specification with a central service centerso that other users participating with that central service might moreeasily be able to cause their ACMAN systems to share, present, andupdate respective activity description expressions with other users soas to support the data structure(s) of the custom attribute. This isdescribed elsewhere in more detail. (See FIG. 12A 1256 and 1257.) Menuitems “Create Extra-Journal Link”, “Modify Extra-Journal Link . . . ”,and “Remove Extra-Journal Links . . . ” (2651, 2652, and 2653respectively) might be tools to create, modify, and remove extra-journallinks between activity descriptions and journal items. 2651 mightprovide Max with a dialogue box to indicate the items he wants to link,or if Max already has one or more activity description expressions andone or more journal item expressions selected concurrently, this menuoption could cause Max's system to create appropriate links between theunderlying ADOs and JDIs that are selected. In another embodiment ofthis menu item, selecting 2651 would change the mode of Max's pointer toenable a drag and link capability. Once the menu item is selected, Maxcan drag his mouse select one or to grab one or more selected activitydescription expressions, and drag this selection to one or more journalitems in the journal pane area, thereby causing extra-journal links tobe created. 2652 might allow Max to cause his system to recordmodifications to presentation settings or other extra-journal linksettings of a on-display and selected, or otherwise indicatedextra-journal link. 2653 might allow Max to cause his system to deletefrom storage within an ADO and/or its correspondingly linked JDI, agiven extra journal link indication. Possible menu items 2654 and 2655might provide Max with means to cause his machine to record groupings orto delete grouping recordings of selected or indicated journal itemexpressions. This was described in FIG. 9A, 927, 916, FIG. 9B 909, andFIG. 10 1001 b.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a possible set of presented menu items,including a possible set of Editing and Sharing related items, that auser may be able to select in order to cause his system to executevarious instructions. The “Undo” and “Redo” (2711 and 2712 respectively)submenu options might provide means for Max to cause his machine to undooperations, or respectively redo undone operations, concerningmodifications Max caused his machine to record on Max's machine area 312(FIG. 3). As described in FIG. 3, a transactions table 320 might berecorded on Max's machine area to record a stack of recent modificationsMax may have caused for instance to his activity descriptions (315),journal items (316), user profile (321), and/or other recorded items onhis machine area (312). The “Undo” and “Redo” options might refer tothis Transactions Table. The “Cut”, “Copy”, and “Paste” menu options(2713, 2714, and 2715 respectively) might provide Max with typical datamanipulation capabilities regarding individually selected or groupwiseselected on-display expressions, including activity descriptionexpressions, journal item expressions, or portions thereof, that areon-display. These possible operations (2713, 2714, and 2715) should befamiliar to those skilled in the art. A “Paste Special . . . ” 2716option might be provided for Max to paste data items with specialoptions, for instance, to paste a reference and/or hyperlink to an emailor website or document, rather than the content of the selected andcopied data items. Further, this 2716 could provide Max with a means topaste a language translation of some clipboard copied text, or possiblyto paste a text translation of some clipboard copied digitally recordedhandwriting. Menu option “New Activity” 2717 might include severalsub-options for Max to cause his system to generate and record newactivity descriptions.

In one embodiment, an ACMAN system may include a capability to warn auser, such as Max, if a newly entered activity description has a longactivity descriptor field value that is identical to or similar to thatof any current and/or completed activity description(s) stored on hismachine area. Max might mistakenly try to record the same or a similaractivity description into his activity plans, but it would only confusehis planning if he was to cause his system to record two very similar oroverlapping instances of a possibly single actual activity idea. One wayto detect such accidental duplication is for the ACMAN system tomaintain a library of words, phrases, and/or expressions, together withan estimated word uniqueness rating. For instance, the words “call”,“office”, and “buy” might each have uniqueness ratings of 1 on a scaleof 1 to 10—the word “call”, the word “office”, and the word “buy” mighteach be used very frequently and so have a low uniqueness rating. Incontrast, the word “RJ-11” might have a high uniqueness rating of “10”.In one embodiment, the ACMAN system could determine an aggregateuniqueness score for an ADO's long activity descriptor indication, andif that score is above a certain threshold value, it might alert Max andmight possibly provide Max with a presentation of one or more activitydescription expressions that include some of the same words as the newlycreated activity description expression. Max could then review this todetermine if his newly created activity is indeed redundant to otherongoing or completed activities. That aggregate uniqueness score mightbe computed as follows: Take the sum of the uniqueness ratings for thewords of an ADO's long activity descriptor field expression divided bythe number of words in that expression. For instance “Call office” mighthave an aggregate uniqueness score of (1+1)/2=1. On the other hand, “BuyRJ-11” might have a aggregate uniqueness score of (1+10)/2=5.5. If thethreshold of aggregation uniqueness was set to “3”, then the second ADOcorresponding to “Buy RJ-11” would be reviewed by the ACMAN system. Ifin the machine area activities folder it found one or more other closelymatching activity descriptions, the ACMAN system might automaticallypresent Max with a brief warning. By closely matching, this might mean,find other ADO expressions wherein any words in their expressions matchany of those in the newly created ADO, and sum up the uniqueness factorsof the matching words within both respective expressions. If the sum isabove a preset comparison threshold, then flag that for display to Max.For instance if an active other ADO expression indicated “call Ray aboutRJ-11”, the matching word(s) versus “buy RJ-11” would be “RJ-11”. Thesum of matching words' aggregate uniqueness scores would be 10. If thematching threshold was 8, then the ACMAN system would flag Max regardingthe possibly duplicate ADO corresponding to “call Ray about RJ-11”, andmight present this to Max to alert him to a possible duplicate activitythat he or another user was already involved in. Max could thendetermine if he really does want to create the new ADO recordcorresponding to “buy RJ-11”.

Returning back to the menu options of FIG. 27, Max might “Insert . . . ”2740 a new activity description in between an already recorded parentand child activity pair (as in FIG. 12A 1219). He might instead “Add . .. ” 2741 a new activity description below a selected activitydescription expression, as a child ADO (as in FIG. 12A 1227 a). Or Maxmight “Create . . . ” 2742 a new activity description and laterdetermine how it might be related to his other activity descriptionexpressions. In one embodiment, if no primary parent ADO is identifiedby Max for a newly created ADO, then Max's root activity node is bydefault set as the primary parent for the newly created ADO.

There may also be several options for Max to “Modify Hierarchy ofSelected Activity” 2720. For a selected Activity Description expression,Max can select “Insert as Child Under . . . ” (2743), and this mightcause Max's system to move and record the underlying selected ADO as theprimary child of a second activity description expression that Maxindicates. This might displace any previously recorded primary childrenof the second activity description expression to then become primarychildren of Max's initially selected ADO. By selecting option 2744 “Addas Child To . . . ” Max might cause his system to move and record Max'sselected activity description expression as a possibly added primarychild to a second ADO that Max indicates, which could be an embedded ora foyered ADO. Max could instead choose “Remove Parent Relationships . .. ” 2745. This might cause Max's system to delete certain specifiedprimary, secondary, and or foyered parent ADO pointing references fromthe recorded instance of Max's currently selected ADO expression.

The next set of possible menu options are related to the journalpresentation area and/or to journal data items. Option 2722 might allowMax to insert selected data, say a file, file reference, other referenceor pointers, clipboard copied data, etc. into his journal area. Maxmight wish to directly edit in his journal, so he might select “ModifyJournal” 2723 to make modifications and cause his machine to recordthose modifications on his machine area. Among the sub-options, Maxmight be able to “Edit Journal” 2746, possibly directly by using hismouse, microphone, digital camera, keyboard, and/or other input devicesto make or modify recordings of journal items. Max might wish to “Merge”2747 two or more selected journal items together to become one singleJDI. Max might also cause his machine to “Split” 2748 a JDI into two ormore separate JDIs. There may be several other 2724 “Edit” menu 2703sub-options Max might be able to select in order to instruct his ACMANsystem to execute specified instructions.

A possible “Sharing” menu item 2705 might provide Max with severalactivity description and optional journal item sharing capabilities. Forinstance, Max might select “Share Activities . . . ” 2760. This mightcause another popup window to appear (not shown) that might provide Maxwith several options, for instance to specify (if none of his activityexpressions were already selected) what activity description(s) he wantsto share, to what other user(s) (contact address/machine area) he wantsto share them to, what type of sharing request to indicate, and/or whatoptional message Max may wish to provide. Once Max finishes specifyinghis preferences, his screen presentation may appear as inside 1697 (inFIG. 16A), and Max might then cause his system to transmit the derivedactivity description(s) and optionally the respectively derived andextra-journal linked journal item(s). Or he might just cause his systemto hold the recorded information in a transmission queue for latertransmission. If as in one embodiment, Max's system synchronizes(transmits and receives) shared activity descriptions and/or journalitems on a pre-set interval, Max might pre-empt his transmitting systemto immediately transmit and receive messages, by selecting “SynchronizeShared Activities” 2764.

Max might choose to cause his system to present to Max expressions ofreceived activity descriptions and optional journal item expressionsthat he has not yet reviewed. Max could initiate this by selecting“Review Received Activities” 2761. Max might select one or more activitydescription expressions and decide he wants to accept involvement (e.g.according to the expressed sharing agreement request) in these one ormore underlying activities. So he might select “Accept ReceivedActivities . . . ” 2762 and cause his system to embed derived copies ofthe activity descriptions and possible linked journal items into hisembedded machine storage area(s) (315 a and possibly 316 a respectivelyin FIG. 3). Max may want to not accept or deny certain receivedactivities, so he might select “Mark as Reviewed” to apply to any suchreceived activities that Max may select. This might be particularlyuseful for an embodiment in which Max has supervisory privileges over asubordinate other user, and further in which that subordinate's machinetransmits new supervisory shared derived activity description copies toMax. In one such embodiment, Max's system might flag each newly receivedactivity description with an unrecognized common-idea-tying reference(e.g. CIER field) as unreviewed. Max might not have time or interest toreview them all, so he might select one or more such expressions, andmark them as reviewed 2763. Max might also have an option to manage,including modify and/or read, his contacts listing (as in 319 and/or 332of FIG. 3) by selecting possible option “Manage Contacts” 2765. Finally,there could be other “Sharing” sub-menu options available to Max thatare not shown explicitly 2766 in this FIG. 27. There may also be othermain menu headings that have not been shown (2707) in this figure aswell.

The present disclosure is to be taken as illustrative rather than aslimiting the scope, nature, or spirit of the subject matter claimedbelow. Numerous modifications and variations will become apparent tothose skilled in the art after studying the disclosure, including use ofequivalent functional and/or structural substitutes for elementsdescribed herein, use of equivalent functional couplings for couplingsdescribed herein, and/or use of equivalent functional steps for stepsdescribed herein. Such insubstantial variations are to be consideredwithin the scope of what is contemplated here. Moreover, if pluralexamples are given for specific means, or steps, and extrapolationbetween and/or beyond such given examples is obvious in view of thepresent disclosure, then the disclosure is to be deemed as effectivelydisclosing and thus covering at least such extrapolations.

It is understood that the methods described herein can include use of acomputer or another data processing machine to automatically and/orprogrammably carry out the functions described herein. Acomputer-readable medium or another form of a software product ormachine-instructing means (including but not limited to, a hard disk, acompact disk, a flash memory stick, a downloading of manufacturedinstructing signals over a network and/or like software products) may beused for instructing an instructable machine to carry out such functionsin accordance with the disclosure and to transmit and/or receivecorresponding, manufactured data signals. As such, it is within thescope of the disclosure to have an instructable machine carry out,and/to provide a software product adapted for causing an instructablemachine to carry out a machine-implemented methods in accordance withthe disclosure.

Secondary Summary

An Introductory Summary was provided at the beginning of thisdisclosure. In view of the extensive detailed description and detaileddrawings provided, it may be worthwhile to provide here, a secondarysummary which reviews and/or supplements the details in a nonlimitingmanner as follows. (Note in the following, secondary summary, thatbolded curly brackets embracing reference symbols, such as in the form{100}, may be used to provide nonlimiting, cross-referencing examples ofsupport. The cross-references do not limit the scope of disclosureherein or the scope of subject matter that may be claimed herein or incontinuations or divisionals.)

The aspects disclosed herein include: (as Sum2.1):

-   A manufactured instructing signal {105 b} for causing an    instructable machine {120} to carry out an activity description    generating process, where the process caused by said instructing    signal includes a recording of activity-describing data (AD data)    where each respectively recorded instance of AD data comprises:-   (a) one or both of a short activity descriptor field {1234} for    providing a relatively short and/or abbreviated description of a    corresponding activity of the instant AD data {ADO}, and a long    activity descriptor field {1233} for providing a comparatively    longer and/or more detailed description of the corresponding    activity of the instant AD data;-   (c) an AD owner and/or telecommunications contact address    identifying field {1224} for identifying an owner-user and/or    telecommunications contact address of said owner-user who has    ownership and modification rights over the instant AD data for    creating and/or modifying at least said short activity descriptor    field and/or long activity descriptor field of the instant AD data;    and-   (d) a uniqueness providing field {1222} for use alone or in    combination with said AD owner and/or telecommunications contact    address identifying field for providing the instant AD data with a    unique identification so as to make the instant AD data uniquely    identifiable respectively among other AD data owned by said    owner-user of the instant AD data and/or among other AD data owned    by a specifiable pool of other users with whom the owner-user of the    instant AD data is sharing or may be sharing activity idea    information.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.2):

-   A first data processing machine {120} that is couplable to and    decouplable from {291} one or more communications networks {115 c}    and that is usable by a first user {101} belonging to an expandable    group of users {402-404} such that the first user can develop {550}    expressions of ideas for one or more activities {410} and/or can    organize {551} activity idea expressions relative to one another    and/or can refine and/or reorganize {561} expressions of ideas for    one or more activities and can share {567} selectable ones of the    expressed and organized activity ideas with a selectable one or more    other users of said expandable group of users by way of said data    processing machine and by way of alike other data processing    machines which are usable by the one or more other users, said first    data processing machine {120} comprising:-   (a) a first storage area {312} that stores first data representing    activity idea expressions owned by the first user, where the owned    activity idea expressions are modifiable by the first user;-   (b) a second storage area {316} that stores second data representing    activity development and/or activity support data that can logically    link to one or more of the owned activity idea expressions of the    first user, where logical links between selectable portions of said    second data and selectable parts of the first data can be created,    modified or deleted by the first user;-   (c) first idea sharing means for transmitting derived copies {1260    a} of outbound-intended ones of the activity idea expressions stored    in the first storage area and owned by the first user to a    selectable one or more of the other users of said expandable group    if said first data processing machine {120} is coupled to an    operable communications network that can provide communication to    corresponding and alike machines of one or more of the selectable    one or more other users; and-   (d) second idea sharing means for receiving inbound expression    copies {1217 a} derived from activity idea expressions owned by one    or more of the other users if said first data processing machine    {120} is coupled to an operable communications network that provides    communication from corresponding and alike machines of one or more    of the other users.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as subsidiary Sum2.2 a):The first data processing machine {120} of Sum2.2 wherein said firstdata processing machine is a portable machine that can operate atvarious times including when mobile and when operatively decoupled fromone or more or all of the communications networks to which said dataprocessing machine is decouplably couplable to.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.2 b):

-   The first data processing machine {120} of Sum2.2 and further    comprising:-   (e) expression-support linking means {871} for enabling the first    user to create and/or modify and/or delete logical links {928 a}    between selectable portions {928 d} of said second data and    selectable parts of the first data {1220, 1228}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.2 c):

-   The first data processing machine {120} of Sum2.2 wherein:-   (a.1) said first data of the first storage area {312} comprises a    plurality of hierarchically-organized activity data objects (ADO's)    {1220} where each given ADO in the first storage area includes at    least:-   (a.1a) first ADO information {1233–1234} for providing an expression    of a corresponding activity covered by the given ADO;-   (a.1b) second ADO information {1236, 1238} for providing    hierarchical primary linkage between the given ADO and either    another ADO in the first storage area or a root node, if any; and-   (a.1c) third ADO information {1232} for providing an indication of a    time when the given ADO was either created or last modified by the    first user.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.2 d):

-   The first data processing machine {120} of Sum2.2 and further    comprising:-   (e) support-data insertion means {930} for enabling the first user    to insert support and/or development data into the second storage    area.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.2 e):

-   The first data processing machine {120} of Sum2.2 and further    comprising:-   (e) a third storage area {315 b} that stores third data representing    activity idea expressions owned by one or more of the other users,    where the activity idea expressions of the third storage area are    updateable in response to update messages received from the    corresponding one or more other users;-   (f) alternate expression-presenting means {261,101″} for presenting    to the first user the activity idea expressions {102 c′} of one or    more of the other users.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.3):

-   A system for creating shareable activity plans {551} comprising:-   (a) formal expression means {565} for generating and storing first    activity descriptions as hierarchically interrelated first data    objects {1200};-   (b) informal expression means {568} for collecting and storing first    data items {921} in a format other than that used for the    hierarchically interrelated first data objects;-   (c) first expression linking means {916} for generating first    logical links {928 a,871} between selectable ones of the stored    first data objects {871 b,872 b} and a corresponding one {823} or    more of the stored first data items;-   (d) presentation means {600} for presenting to a first user {101}, a    first presentation {610} of two or more, first selectable    expressions of said stored first data objects and for simultaneously    presenting to the user a second presentation {620} of two or more,    second selectable expressions of said stored first data items, the    presentation means including:-   (d.1) linkage visibility controlling means {2224} for selectably    enabling and disabling visibility attributes of one or more of said    first logical links such that corresponding expressions of said    first logical links become visible or invisible in one or both of    the first and second presentation {610, 620}; and-   (e) transmitting means {567, 2760, 2764} for allowing the first user    to select desired ones of the stored first data objects and/or    desired ones of the stored first data items and to transmit to a    second user {102} copies of the stored and selected first data    objects and/or stored and selected first data items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.3 a):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 and further comprising:-   (f) receiving means {568, 2764} for allowing the first user to    receive from one or more other users, copies of corresponding second    data objects and/or second data items; and further wherein:-   (d.1) the presentation means includes preview means {1651, 2761} for    presenting to the first user, a third presentation {1651} of two or    more, second selectable expressions of second data objects received    by the receiving means and for simultaneously presenting to the    first user a fourth presentation {1661} of two or more, third    selectable expressions of second data items received by the    receiving means.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 b):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 a and further    comprising:-   (g) integrating means {2762} for allowing the first user to    integrate into his own collections of said stored first data objects    and/or stored first data items, respective copies {1635} of the    second data objects received by the receiving means and/or    respective copies {1624″} of the second data items received by the    receiving means.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 c):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 a and further wherein:-   (g) the third respective, derived activity description copies    contain the same CIER indication as is indicated by the CIER field    {1222} of the said second activity data object.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 d):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 a and further    comprising:-   (g) second expression linking means {916, 2654} for generating    second logical links {927} between selectable ones of the stored    first data items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 e):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 a and further    comprising:-   (e) second expression linking means {876} for generating second    logical links {876} between selectable ones of the stored first data    objects {871 b,872 b}, where said second logical links include    primary parent-child links and secondary parent-child links; and    further wherein:-   (d.1) the presentation means includes linkage visibility controlling    means {2224} for selectably enabling and disabling visibility    attributes {631} of one or more of said second logical links such    that corresponding expressions of said second logical links become    visible or invisible in the first presentation {610}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 f):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 wherein:-   (b.1) said informal expression means {568} includes one or more of:-   (b.1a) text inputting means {921,940,930} for generating    text-containing ones of the first data items {921};-   (b.1b) sound inputting means {931} for generating sound-containing    ones of the first data items;-   (b.1c) graphics inputting means {941 a} for generating    graphic-imagery-containing ones of the first data items;-   (b.1d) email inputting means {960} for converting received email    data into corresponding email data containing ones of the first data    items;-   (b.1e) language translating means {950} for converting first    expressions provided in a first language to corresponding second    expressions provided in a different second language and for storing    the second, language-translated, expressions within the first data    items;-   (b.1f) format translating means {955} for converting first    expressions provided in a first format to corresponding second    expressions provided in a different second format and for storing    the second, format-translated, expressions within the first data    items; and-   (b.1g) an automated data acquisition agent {970} for automatically    searching through data provided by remote data-providing means and    for storing query-matching parts of the automatically searched    through data within the first data items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 g):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 and further comprising:-   (e) sharing proposal means {567, 1260 a} for transmitting in    conjunction with the transmitted copies of the stored and selected    first data objects, development and/or deployment proposals    corresponding to respective ones of the transmitted copies of the    stored and selected first data objects.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 h):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 g and further    comprising:-   (f) sharing progress tracking means {569,1260 d} for providing the    first user with information from those of said other users who    respond indicating whether the responding other users have accepted    the transmitted development and/or deployment proposals    corresponding to respective ones of the transmitted copies of the    stored and selected first data objects.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.3 i):

-   The activity plans sharing system of Sum2.3 h and further wherein:-   (f.1) the sharing progress tracking means {569, 1260 d} includes    progress updating means {1800} for providing the first user with    updated information concerning how the responding other users have    modified or further developed corresponding data objects derived    from the transmitted copies of the stored and selected first data    objects.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.4):

-   A machine-implemented method {600″} of cross-referencing expressions    relating to activity plans defined within a machine area {312} of a    given user, the cross-referencing method comprising:-   (a) displaying a plurality of formalized activity descriptions    {610″};-   (b) displaying a plurality of informal journal items {620″}; and-   (c) displaying an indication of logical linkage {635} between at    least one on-display member and another member of the cross-linkable    group consisting of the displayed activity descriptions and the    displayed journal items, where the displayed indication is other    than that of a common linkage between all members of said    cross-linkable group.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.4 a):

-   The machine-implemented cross-referencing method {600″} of Sum2.4    and further comprising:-   (d) creating a logical linkage {635} between at least two on-display    members of the cross-linkable group by dragging a cursor between a    selected first of the at least two on-display members and a second    of the at least two on-display members of the cross-linkable group.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.4 b):

-   The machine-implemented cross-referencing method {600″} of Sum2.4    and further wherein:-   (a.1) one or more of the displayed, formalized activity descriptions    is each represented by a recorded and corresponding activity data    object (ADO) and the ADO includes:-   (a.1a) first ADO information {1233–1234} for providing an expression    of a corresponding activity covered by the given ADO;-   (a.1b) second ADO information {1236, 1238} for providing    hierarchical primary linkage between the given ADO and either    another ADO in the first storage area or a root node, if any;-   (a.1c) third ADO information {1232} for providing an indication of a    time when the given ADO was either created or last modified by the    first user.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.4 c):

-   The machine-implemented cross-referencing method {600″} of Sum2.4    and further wherein:-   (b.1) one or more of the displayed, journal items is each    represented by a recorded and corresponding journal data item (JDI)    and the corresponding JDI includes:-   (b.1a) first JDI information {621} for providing a journaling    timestamp indicating when data of the corresponding journal item was    first recorded into the machine area of the given user; and-   (b.1b) second JDI information comprising at least one of:-   (b.1b1) text data {921} input by a user who is indicated within the    machine area as owning said formalized activity descriptions;-   (b.1b2) a hyperlink {924};-   (b.1b3) digitized audio data {911};-   (b.1b4) automatically transcribed audio information {930};-   (b.1b5) graphic data {941 a}; and-   (b.1b6) data downloaded from a network.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.5):

-   A user interface driving system {240} for presenting representations    of activities to a respective user {101′}, the interface driving    system comprising:-   (a) a machine-implemented first presenter {246} which presents a    first presentation {115′} of a hierarchical data structure {251}    representing organized activities {101 a–101 b} and-   (b) a machine-implemented second presenter {247} which can    simultaneously present a second presentation {117′} of relatively    unorganized data items {252 a} which may be grouped {927} with one    another and/or which may be linked {928 a, 1228} with one or more of    said represented organized activities {1220].

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.5 a):

-   The user interface driving system {240} of Sum2.5 wherein the second    presentation {117} is simultaneously displayed in a same display    area {111} as is the first presentation {115}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.5 b):

-   The user interface driving system {240} of Sum2.5 wherein:-   (a.1) the first presentation {116} includes a spreadsheet    presentation of attributes of the organized activities or a    graphical display of attributes of the organized activities; and-   (b.1) the second presentation {117} includes a chronologically    sorted presentation of journal data items where the journal area may    have items not linked to any activity data objects; or includes a    journal area that has one or more items such that each may be linked    to one or more than one different activity data objects; or includes    a journal area that has more than one item linked to the same    activity data object, and of these journal data items, one or more    may also be linked to a different activity data object. The    integrated presentation area may display or otherwise present    indicia of many to many links {635} between journal data items and    ADOs.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.5 c):

-   The user interface driving system {240} of Sum2.5 and further    comprising:-   (c) linkage modifying means {248}, operatively coupled to storage    {258} for the hierarchical data structure for allowing a user to    create and/or modify links between one or more of said represented    organized activities and to create and/or modify links between each    unorganized data item and one or more of said represented organized    activities.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.5 d):

-   The user interface driving system {240} of Sum2.5 c and further    comprising:-   (d) linkage displaying means {631} for displaying linkage indicia    showing the created and/or modified links between the one or more of    said represented organized activities and showing the created and/or    modified links between each unorganized data item and its respective    one or more of said represented organized activities to which it is    linked.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.6):

-   An integrated activities planning display {111′} which    simultaneously displays:-   (a) first indicia {115} representing organized activity data    objects; and-   (b) second indicia {117} representing journal data items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.6 a):

-   The integrated activities planning display {111′} of Sum2.6 wherein:-   (a.1) the displayed first indicia {115} are filtered by first    display selecting criteria that includes specification of journal    data items to which the displayed first indicia are logically    linked; and-   (b.1) the displayed second indicia {117} are filtered by second    display selecting criteria that includes specification of Activity    Data Objects to which the displayed second indicia are logically    linked.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.7):

-   An integrated journal presentation {620″} that shows links {635 a}    to structured Activity Data Objects in a structured activity data    object presentation; wherein JDIs can be created without links    {624″}, and at any time later those same JDIs may be linked to one    or more ADO's. Stated otherwise, there may be provided: A storage    and presentation system {105} for presenting to a user, expressions    of journaled data items {117} and/or of hierarchically organized    activity descriptions {116} wherein the storage and presentation    system comprises:-   (a) journaling means {900} for recording in a user's journal area    {316}, journal data items {921} obtained from a plurality of sources    {931,960} and/or generated locally by local data-generating means    {921,940}, wherein the journaling means includes:-   (a.1) intra-journal linking means {927} for recording first logical    links between two or more of the recorded journal data items;-   (b) activity description recording means {1220 a} for recording in    an activity descriptions holding area {315}, of the user,    hierarchically organizable activity descriptions [ADO's], wherein    the activity description recording means includes:-   (b.1) extra-journal linking means for recording second logical links    {1211} between the recorded activity descriptions and the recorded    journal data items; and-   (c) expressing means {600} for presenting to the user within an    integrated presentation, expressions of one or more of the recorded    journal data items and of the recorded activity descriptions,    including optional expressions {635 a,872} of one or more of the    first and second logical links.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 a):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein:-   (a.2) said journaling means includes time-stamping means {926} for    automatically attaching time stamps to journaled data items    indicating when the journaled data items were recorded in the user's    journal area; and-   (c.1) at least one presentation by the expressing means of the    user's journaled data items is chronologically sortable according to    said attached time stamps.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 b):

-   There is provided a Journal that can sort displayed JDIs based on    chronological order of JDI timestamps {621} and be filtered based on    a string search, based on one or more ADO selections {605, 620}, or    based on both a string search combined with one or more ADO    selections.    Stated otherwise, there may be provided:

The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein:

-   (c.1) said expressing means {600} includes sorting and/or filtering    means {627,617} for selectively presenting to the user in the    integrated presentation, selectively sorted and/or selectively    chosen ones of the expressions of the one or more of the recorded    journal data items and of the recorded activity descriptions.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 c):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 b wherein:-   (c.2) said sorting and/or filtering means includes a string-based    filtering means for causing the selectively chosen ones of said    expressions to include expressions whose underlying recorded journal    data items and/or recorded activity descriptions contain respective    data and/or attributes satisfying one or more string search    criteria.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 d):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 b wherein:-   (c.2) said sorting and/or filtering means includes an    attributes-based filtering means for causing the selectively chosen    ones of said expressions to include expressions whose underlying    recorded journal data items and/or recorded activity descriptions    contain attributes satisfying one or more attribute state criteria.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 e):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 b wherein:-   (c.2) said sorting and/or filtering means includes an    attributes-based sorting means for causing the selectively sorted    ones of said expressions to be presented according to a prespecified    sorting based on one or more attributes of the underlying recorded    journal data items and/or recorded activity descriptions.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 f):

There is provided the option of selecting a parent ADO and by thataction implicitly selecting its child ADOs and filtering the journal todisplay only the JDIs linked to any of these selected ADOs {605}; Statedotherwise, there may be provided:

The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 b wherein saidactivity descriptions are hierarchically organized at least as parentnodes and corresponding child nodes of a hierarchical tree, and furtherwherein:

-   (c.2) said sorting and/or filtering means includes a    progeny-selecting means for causing an automatic selection of    children activity descriptions and/or of further progeny activity    descriptions of a chosen one or more of said presented expressions    of underlying recorded activity descriptions.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 g):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein:-   said parent nodes and corresponding child nodes define at least    respective primary parent nodes and primary child nodes where each    primary child node has only one primary parent node as its    respective primary parent and where each primary parent node can    have none, or one or more of the primary child nodes as its    respective primary children; and further wherein:-   (b.2) said recorded activity descriptions include a plurality of    activity data objects (ADO's) where each given ADO comprises:-   (b.2a) at least one of a short activity descriptor field {1234} and    long activity descriptor field {1233} for respectively providing a    relatively short description and a comparatively longer and/or more    detailed description of a corresponding activity of the given ADO;-   (b.2b) an ADO owner identifying field {1224} for identifying an    owner-user who has ownership and modification rights over the given    ADO for creating and/or modifying at least said short description    and/or comparatively longer and/or more detailed description of the    corresponding activity of the given ADO;-   (b.2c) a primary parent identifying field {1236} for identifying the    one primary parent ADO of the given ADO unless the given ADO defines    a root node of its corresponding, primary hierarchical tree;-   (b.2d) one or more primary children identifying fields {1238} for    identifying, alone or in combination, the one or more primary child    ADO's, if any, of the given ADO; and-   (b.2e) one or more ADO naming fields {1221,1231} which, alone or in    combination, uniquely identify the given ADO from amongst all other    ADO's owned by said owner-user.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 h):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 g wherein:-   said parent nodes and corresponding child nodes can further define    respective secondary parent nodes and secondary child nodes where    each secondary child node can have more than one activity node as    its respective secondary parents, where each secondary parent node    can have none, or one or more activity nodes as its respective    secondary children, where same activity nodes can each function as    both a primary child node and a secondary child and/or secondary    parent node; and further wherein:-   (b.2′) each given ADO comprises:-   (b.2f) one or more secondary children identifying fields {1239} for    identifying, alone or in combination, the one or more secondary    child ADO's, if any, of the given ADO; and-   (b.2g) one or more secondary parent identifying fields {1237} for    identifying, alone or in combination, the one or more secondary    parent ADO's, if any, of the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 i):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 g and further    wherein each given ADO comprises:-   (b.2f) an owner-user contacting field {1224} for indicating a    telecommunications contact address at which the owner-user may be    telecommunications-wise contacted with regard to the given ADO.    (Note that “telecommunications-wise” is intended to cover optical or    quantum interference communication options as well as electronic,    etc.)

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 j):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 g and further    wherein each given ADO comprises:-   (b.2f) an original activity idea identifying field {1222} for    identifying an original activity idea expression for which the given    ADO has been correspondingly created.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 k):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 j wherein:-   (c.3) said sorting and/or filtering means includes    progeny-presenting means for presenting expressions of said    automatically selected children activity descriptions and/or further    progeny activity descriptions.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 l):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein: (c.2)    said sorting and/or filtering means includes first    presentation-based filtering means for presenting in said integrated    presentation the expressions of only underlying recorded journal    data items that are logically linked to presented expressions of    underlying recorded activity descriptions.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 m):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein: (c.2)    said sorting and/or filtering means includes second    presentation-based filtering means for presenting in said integrated    presentation the expressions of only underlying recorded activity    descriptions that are logically linked to presented expressions of    underlying recorded journal data items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 n):

-   The situation where the filtered journal displays only the JDIs    linked to any of these selected ADOs plus any JDIs that are not    linked but are grouped with any of the linked ADOs {927}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 o):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein: (c.2)    said sorting and/or filtering means includes third    presentation-based filtering means for presenting in said integrated    presentation the expressions of underlying first recorded journal    data items {923} that are logically linked {928 b} to    in-presentation expressions of underlying recorded activity    descriptions and for further presenting in said integrated    presentation the expressions of underlying second recorded journal    data items {922} that are logically linked {927} to the    in-presentation expressions of the first recorded journal data    items.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 p):

-   The providing of one or more buttons on the same presentation as the    ADOs {618, 618 a, 618 b} that can be preset to filter the ADOs and    optionally to sort them and optionally to set the journal as    filtered/unfiltered with a single user mouse click or command.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 g):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein: (c.1)    said expressing means {600} provides expression-format control means    {618–618 b,850–858} within an area {800} of the integrated    presentation for defining presentation formats of one or more of the    presented expressions, if any, of the one or more of the recorded    journal data items and/or the recorded activity descriptions and/or    the expressions {635 a,872} of one or more of the first and second    logical links.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 q):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 q wherein: (c.2)    said expression-format control means includes one or more,    predefined sorting and/or filtering tools {617} for providing    single-click or single-other-user-activation of a predefined    combination of one or more of predefined presentation sorting and/or    presentation filtering operations for thereby determining which    expressions of respective recorded journal data items and/or    recorded activity descriptions will be on-display, and if so, in    what presentation order or other presentation organization relative    to one another.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 s):

-   The providing of programmable settings for these buttons so they can    provide an automatically filtering query using wildcards or any    other means of data comparing (whether text, audio, image    comparing).

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 t):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 r wherein: (c.3)    one or more of said predefined sorting and/or filtering tools {617}    provide wildcard searching capabilities for sorting and/or filtering    according respective sort and filter criteria that include wildcard    symbols.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 u):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 r wherein: (c.3)    one or more of said predefined sorting and/or filtering tools {617}    provide data comparing capabilities for detecting specified    similarities or differences between same-type data where the    same-type data can include, but are not limited to, text-containing    data types, sound-containing data types, and graphic    image-containing data types.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 v):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 r wherein (c.3)    programmable settings are provided for these buttons such that one    or more of the query (button) functions can be responsive to a    Boolean sum of products expression for satisfying its conditions,    (e.g. (condition A and condition B) or (condition C and not    condition D)) {617}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 w):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 r wherein (c.3)    one or more of said predefined sorting and/or filtering tools {617}    provide data identifying capabilities for detecting data satisfying    predefined, Boolean sum of products conditions or equivalents    thereof.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 x):

-   The providing of programmable capabilities such that Activity Data    Objects can be selectively displayed in spreadsheet mode {610} or in    graphical mode {810} and such that editing, inserting, deleting, or    otherwise modifying an ADO in one presentation mode can be reflected    conversely when viewed in the other mode.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 y):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 wherein (c.1)    said expressing means {600} includes presentation format control    means for causing one or more of said expressions of the one or more    of the recorded activity descriptions to selectively appear in    tabular form or in graphical-icons form.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 z):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 y wherein:-   (c.1a) a user selectable tabular form for the presentation of the    one or more recorded activity descriptions includes a spreadsheet    presentation {610} wherein the spreadsheet presentation provides:-   (c.1a1) a hierarchy path indication {611} indicating a position in a    hierarchical tree where a corresponding node for a corresponding,    given activity description resides; and-   (c.1a2) an activity description presentation {616} that provides at    least part of a short or long description for the given activity    that is being represented by the given activity description.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 aa):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 z wherein:-   (c.1b) a user selectable graphical-icons form for the presentation    of the one or more recorded activity descriptions includes a    graphical node and branches presentation {810} wherein the graphical    node and branches presentation provides:-   (c.1b1) a hierarchy path indication {876} indicating a position in    one or more primary trees or other hierarchical branches where a    corresponding node for a corresponding, given activity description    resides; and-   (c.1b2) an activity description presentation {871 b} that provides    graphical icons representing respective activity nodes, and that    further provides, adjacent to or within the respective graphical    icons of respective activity nodes, at least part of a short or long    description for the given activity that is being represented by the    given activity description.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.7 ab):

-   The storage and presentation system {105} of Sum2.7 aa wherein:    -   (c.1b3) said provided graphical icons that represent respective        activity nodes can be selectively presented with different ones        of the icon attributes group consisting of: shape {874 vs.878},        size, color, boundary texturing, fill texturing, boundary        dashing, boundary thickness, and flash pattern.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.8):

-   The Storing of a shortened activity description {1234} in addition    to a storing in the same ADO of a longer activity description {1233}    in order to more easily display icons {873} in graphical mode or to    display the hierarchy path conveniently {611} in the text hierarchy    tree.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.9):

-   The production, transmission and/or use of a manufactured signal    {1220} for defining a given one of a plurality of activity data    objects (ADO's), where the given ADO is organizable to define a    respective activity node in a hierarchical tree containing parent    activity nodes and corresponding child activity nodes that are    defined by further and alike ADO's, the manufactured signal for the    given ADO comprising:-   (a) a short activity descriptor field {1234} for providing a    relatively short and/or abbreviated description of a corresponding    activity of the given ADO;-   (b) a long activity descriptor field {1233} for providing a    comparatively longer and/or more detailed description of the    corresponding activity of the given ADO;-   (c) an ADO owner identifying field {1224} for identifying an    owner-user who has ownership and modification rights over the given    ADO for creating and/or modifying at least said short activity    descriptor field and long activity descriptor field of the given    ADO;-   (d) a first parent identifying field {1236} for identifying a    corresponding first parent ADO that serves in a respective first    hierarchical tree as a parent of the given ADO;-   (e) one or more first children identifying fields {1238} for    identifying, alone or in combination, one or more first child ADO's,    if any within the first hierarchical tree, of the given ADO; and-   (f) one or more ADO naming fields {1221,1231} which, alone or in    combination, uniquely identify the given ADO from amongst all other    ADO's owned by said owner-user and embedded in the first    hierarchical tree.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 a):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and in furthercombination with a machine system {110} that automatically fills in atleast part of the long activity descriptor field {1233} using dataobtained from the short activity descriptor field {1234}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 b):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and in furthercombination with a machine system that automatically fills in at leastpart of the short activity descriptor field using data obtained from thelong activity descriptor field.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 c):

The provision of a combination of the machine system {110} andmanufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 b wherein said machine systemincludes:

-   a machine-readable, short-to-long cross referencing dictionary {263}    for converting between predefined, short descriptors that are usable    in the short activity descriptor field and predefined, comparatively    longer descriptors that are usable in the long activity descriptor    field. The combination of the machine system {110} and manufactured    signal {1220} of Sum2.9 b may further be provided wherein:-   said cross referencing dictionary {263} provides cross referencing    translations between predefined first terms used by said owner-user    {101} and predefined second terms used by one or more other users.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 d):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein:

-   (d.1) said first hierarchical tree defines a primary hierarchical    tree whose activity nodes comprise respective primary parent nodes    and primary child nodes where each primary child node has only one    primary parent node as its respective primary parent and where each    primary parent node can have none, or one or more of the primary    child nodes as its respective primary children; and further wherein:-   said first parent identifying field {1236} identifies the one    primary parent ADO of the given ADO unless the given ADO defines a    root node of its corresponding, primary hierarchical tree; and-   (e.1) said one or more first children identifying fields {1238}    identify the one or more primary child ADO's, if any, of the given    ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 e):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein: the activity node represented by said given ADO cansimultaneously serve as a secondary node in a secondary hierarchicalbranch having further secondary activity nodes and where saidmanufactured signal further comprises:

-   (g) one or more secondary children identifying fields {1239} for    identifying, alone or in combination, one or more secondary child    ADO's, if any, of the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 f):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 e and furtherwherein the manufactured signal further comprises:

-   (h) one or more secondary parent identifying fields {1237} for    identifying, alone or in combination, one or more secondary parent    ADO's, if any, of the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 g):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises:

-   (g) an owner-user contacting field {1224} for indicating a    telecommunications contact address at which the owner-user may be    telecommunications-wise contacted with regard to the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 h):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises:

-   (g) an original activity idea identifying field {1222} for    identifying an original activity idea expression for which the given    ADO has been correspondingly created or is logically tied to.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 i):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises:

-   (g) an originator of original activity idea identifying field {1223}    for identifying an originator of an activity idea expression for    which the given ADO has been correspondingly created or is logically    tied to.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 j):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 i and furtherwherein: (g.1) said originator of original activity idea identifyingfield {1223} includes originator contact information for indicating atelecommunications contact address at which the originator may betelecommunications-wise contacted with regard to the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 k):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises:

-   (g) an embedded tree identifying field {1225} for identifying a    hierarchical tree having an activity node embedded therein, where    the embedded activity node is represented by said given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 l):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a last synchronizationidentifying field {1232} for identifying a most recent synchronizationevent where update data regarding the state of the given ADO wasproduced for sending to machine areas of one or more other users. (Note:in some machines, transmit data may be posted and/or accumulated into athread and the thread may be activated at a later time for causingtransmission. Accordingly, update data may be produced for latersending.)

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 m):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a categorizationidentifying field {1235} for indicating whether the given ADO provides acategorization function for other ADO's.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 n):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) an external dataidentifying field {1240} for identifying one or more data items outsideof the given ADO that can provide support or other useful informationfor users of the given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 o):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 n wherein theone or more outside data items outside include journaled data items thathave been recorded with respective recordation time-stamps into ajournal portion of machine area belonging to said owner-user.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 p):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a priority indicatingfield {1241} for indicating a priority assigned to the underlyingactivity of the given ADO by said owner-user.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 q):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a sharing statusindicating field {1244} for indicating an idea or activity sharing stateexisting between the owner-user of the given ADO and one or more otherusers.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 r):

The provision of the manufactured signal (1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a dependency indicatingfield {1252} for indicating one or more of preceding or followingdependencies assigned between the underlying activity of the given ADOand underlying activities of other ADO's.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 s):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a privacy-levelindicating field {1253} for indicating one or more privacy statesassigned by the owner-user of the given ADO to information provided bythe given ADO.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.9 t):

The provision of the manufactured signal {1220} of Sum2.9 and furtherwherein the manufactured signal comprises: (g) a authenticity certifyingfield {1255} for providing certification of one or both ofdeterminations that information provided by the given ADO has not beentampered with and that information provided by the given ADO originatedfrom the owner-user identified in said ADO owner identifying field{1224}.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (as Sum2.10):

-   The Printing onto one page or one set of pages, with one print    command, such a Boolean sum of products filtered set of ADOs in    either graphical or text spreadsheet mode. Stated otherwise, there    may be provided:

A machine-implemented method {240} for generating reports relating tohierarchically organized activity descriptions and/oractivity-supporting information, the method comprising:

-   (a) first maintaining a recorded and logically linked plurality of    activity data objects (ADO's) {251} which identify and/or represent    respective activities and indicate interrelationships between the    respective activities;-   (b) second maintaining a recorded and logically linkable plurality    of journal data items (JDI's) {252 a,252 b} which identify and/or    represent respective items of supporting information for supporting    current or future activities and indicate, if the JDI's are    logically linked to one another and/or to other data,    interrelationships between the respective JDI's and/or the other    data;-   (c) performing one or more filtering searches {246,247} through one    or both of said maintained ADO's and JDI's for identifying one or    more filtered subsets of said maintained ADO's and JDI's; and-   (d) presenting {115′,117′} to a user {101′} at least one of said    filtered subsets of the maintained ADO's and/or JDI's.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.10 a):

The machine-implemented method {240} of Sum2.10 wherein: (d.1) saidpresenting includes presenting an integrated presentation to the user,where the integrated presentation simultaneously provides a firstexpression {115′} of a filtered subset of, or an unfiltered expressionof, the maintained ADO's and a second expression {117═} of a filteredsubset of, or an unfiltered expression of, the maintained JDI's.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.10 b):

The machine-implemented method {240} of Sum2.10 a wherein: (d.2) eachone of said first and second presented expressions {115′, 117′} isselectively expressed in a respective one of a tabular form or agraphical-icons form.

The aspects disclosed herein further include (Sum2.10 c):

The machine-implemented method {240} of Sum2.10 and further comprising:

-   (e) causing a print out to be generated of one or both of a first    expression {115′} of a filtered subset of, or an unfiltered    expression of, the maintained ADO's and a second expression {117′}    of a filtered subset of, or an unfiltered expression of, the    maintained JDI's.    2a. Cross Reference to Patents . . . Continued-   (B) U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,113 issued on Sep. 3, 2002 to Ozzie, et al.    and entitled “Method and apparatus for activity-based collaboration    by a computer system equipped with a dynamics manager”.-   (C) U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,191 issued on Oct. 30, 2001 to Retallick and    entitled “Method and apparatus for improved contact and activity    management and planning”.-   (D) U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,164 issued on Oct. 23, 2001 to Nummelin, et    al. and entitled “Distributed project management system and method”.-   (E) U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,481 issued on Aug. 8, 2000 to Miller and    entitled “Task management system”.-   (F) U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,048 issued on Jul. 18, 2000 to Nakaoka and    entitled “Task execution support system”.-   (G) U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,215 issued on Dec. 21, 1999 to Retallick and    entitled “Method and apparatus for improved contact and activity    management and planning”.-   (H) U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,074 issued on Apr. 6, 1999 to Hughes, et al.    and entitled “Network based task management”.-   (I) U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,913 issued on Feb. 24, 1998 to Ackroff, et    al. and entitled “Integrated activity management system”.-   (J) U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,506 issued on Aug. 20, 1996 to Srinivasan    and entitled “Automated, electronic network based, project    management server system, for managing multiple work-groups”.-   (K) U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,861 issued on Jun. 25, 1996 to Diamant, et    al. and entitled “Process enaction and tool integration via a task    oriented paradigm”.-   (L) U.S. Application No. 20030061330 issued on Mar. 27, 2003 to    Frisco, Lynn A.; et al. and entitled “Web-based collaborative    project and process management solution”.-   (M) U.S. Application No. 20020078007 issued on Jun. 20, 2002 to    Herrero, Carlos and entitled “Task management program”.-   (N) U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,241 issued on Oct. 28, 2003 to Ozzie, et al.    and entitled “Method and apparatus for activity-based collaboration    by a computer system equipped with a communications manager”.-   (O) U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,278 issued on Jul. 8, 2003 to Ernst and    entitled “Project data management system and method”.-   (P) U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,006 issued on Jun. 10, 2003 to Saito, et al.    and entitled “Project work management method and system”.-   (Q) U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,845 issued on Jan. 14, 2003 to Cohen, et al.    and entitled “Method and software for supporting improved awareness    of and collaboration among users involved in a task”.-   (R) U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,968 issued on Sep. 3, 2002 to Jalla and    entitled “Task manager”.-   (S) U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,562 issued on Apr. 9, 2002 to Page , et al.    and entitled “Track point-based computer-implemented systems and    methods for facilitating collaborative project development and    communication”.-   (T) U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,430 issued on Nov. 6, 2001 to Chang and    entitled “System and method for accessing a database from a task    written in an object-oriented programming language”.-   (U) U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,317 issued on Sep. 11, 2001 to Peterson and    entitled “Task-based classification and analysis system”.-   (V) U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,108 issued on Jun. 6, 2000 to Peterson and    entitled “Task-based classification and analysis system”.-   (W) U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,297 issued on Aug. 25, 1998 to Goodridge, et    al. and entitled “Task workflow management system and method    including an external program execution feature”.-   (X) U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,360 issued on Sep. 23, 1997 to Hambrick, et    al. and entitled “Project management tool implementing authority for    a people oriented work environment tool”.-   (Y) U.S. Application No. 20030204538 issued on Oct. 30, 2003 to    Keene, David Antony and entitled “Project management system”.-   (Z) U.S. Application No. 20030167281 issued on Sep. 4, 2003 to    Cohen, Andrew L.; et al. and entitled “Method and software for    supporting improved awareness of and collaboration among users    involved in a task”.-   (AA) U.S. Application No. 20020156808 issued on Oct. 24, 2002 to    Duffy, Catherine M.; et al. and entitled “Method and system for    providing task information in a place”.-   (AB) U.S. Application No. 20020143594 issued on Oct. 3, 2002 to    Kroeger, Dann E. and entitled “System, method and article of    manufacture for alerting a manager of a critical outstanding task”.-   (AC) U.S. Application No. 20010001864 issued on May 24, 2001 to    Page, John D.; et al. and entitled “Track point-based    computer-implemented systems and methods for facilitating    collaborative project development and communication”.    3. Reservation of Extra-Patent Rights, Resolution of Conflicts, and    Interpretation of Terms

After this disclosure is lawfully published, the owner of the presentpatent application has no objection to the reproduction by others oftextual and graphic materials contained herein provided suchreproduction is for the limited purpose of understanding the presentdisclosure of invention and of thereby promoting the useful arts andsciences. The owner does not however disclaim any other rights that maybe lawfully associated with the disclosed materials, including but notlimited to, copyrights in any computer program listings or art works orother works provided herein, and to trademark or trade dress rights thatmay be associated with coined terms or art works provided herein and toother otherwise-protectable subject matter included herein or otherwisederivable herefrom.

If any disclosures are incorporated herein by reference and suchincorporated disclosures conflict in part or whole with the presentdisclosure, then to the extent of conflict, and/or broader disclosure,and/or broader definition of terms, the present disclosure controls. Ifsuch incorporated disclosures conflict in part or whole with oneanother, then to the extent of conflict, the later-dated disclosurecontrols.

Unless expressly stated otherwise herein, ordinary terms have theircorresponding ordinary meanings within the respective contexts of theirpresentations, and ordinary terms of art have their correspondingregular meanings within the relevant technical arts and within therespective contexts of their presentations herein.

Given the above disclosure of general concepts and specific embodiments,the scope of protection sought is to be defined by the claims appendedhereto. The issued claims are not to be taken as limiting Applicant'sright to claim disclosed, but not yet literally claimed subject matterby way of one or more further applications including those filedpursuant to 35 U.S.C. §120 and/or 35 U.S.C. §251.

1. An expression storing and transmitting system that can be used by afirst user and enables the first user to develop expressions of ideasfor one or more activities and to share the expressed activity ideaswith one or more other users, wherein the expression storing andtransmitting system comprises: (a) activity description recording meansfor recording in an activity descriptions holding area of the firstuser, a first set of one or more first activity descriptions whereineach said recorded first activity description comprises an activity dataobject (ADO) and wherein each given ADO comprises: (a.1) at least one ofa short activity descriptor field and long activity descriptor field forrespectively providing a relatively short description and acomparatively longer or more detailed description of a correspondingactivity of the given ADO; and (a.2) an ADO owner identifying field foridentifying an owner-user who has ownership and modification rights overthe said ADO for creating or modifying at least said short descriptionor comparatively longer or more detailed description of thecorresponding activity of the given ADO; and (a.3) a uniquenessproviding field for use alone or in combination with said ADO owneridentifying field for providing the given ADO with a uniqueidentification so as to make the given ADO uniquely identifiablerespectively among other ADO's owned by said owner-user of the given ADOand among other ADO's owned by a specifiable pool of other users withwhom the owner-user of the given ADO is sharing or may be sharingactivity idea information; means for selecting activity descriptionexpressions for sharing with one or more other users; means for derivinga transmittable bundle of one or more selected activity descriptionexpressions for transmitting as derived copies to one or more otherusers; and (b) first sharing means for transmitting the derived copiesof selected activity description expressions stored in the said activitydescriptions holding area of the first user to alike systems or unalikesystems usable by one or more other users so that the one or more otherusers can at least review the activity description expressions developedby the first user and transmitted via said first sharing means.
 2. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 1 and furtherwherein: (a.4) the said activity description recording means includesmeans for recording in one or more activity descriptions holding areas,corresponding ones of activity descriptions.
 3. The expression storingand transmitting system of claim 1 and further comprising: (c)journaling means for recording in one or more journal data items holdingareas, corresponding ones of journal data items.
 4. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 1 and further comprising: (c)second sharing means for receiving and recording a second set of one ormore corresponding and second activity description expressions from saidalike systems, where the second set may include alike ADO structuresassociated with, and owned by the second users of the alike systems,wherein portions or wholes of said second set of activity descriptionscan be recorded into the said activity descriptions holding area of thefirst user as updates to or as new members of the respective first setof one or more activity descriptions of the first user; and (d)expressing means for presenting to the first user in an integratedpresentation, expressions of the first set of one or more of therecorded activity descriptions and expressions of the received andrecorded second set of one or more activity descriptions.
 5. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 1 and further eachgiven ADO comprises: (a.4) a common-idea-tying field for identifying thegiven ADO as being a member of a corresponding and exclusive first groupof further ADOs that can be logically tied together under an exclusive,common-idea-tying field such that said first group of common-idea-tiedADOs is unique among at least all other common-idea-tied groups of ADOsthat are recorded in the activity descriptions holding area of the firstuser and in the activity description holding areas of other users in aspecifiable sharing pool, and such that no ADO member of said exclusive,first group of common-idea-tied ADOs is also a member of another alikeand exclusive group of common-idea-tied ADOs recorded in the saidactivity descriptions holding area of the first user and the holdingareas of other users in a specifiable sharing pool.
 6. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 5 and further comprising: (c)second sharing means for receiving and recording a second set of secondone or more activity description expressions where the second set mayinclude alike ADO structures associated with, and owned by second usersof alike said systems; and (d) expressing and preview means forpresenting to the first user a presentation including one or more ofsaid second activity descriptions that may not yet have been reviewed bysaid first user, for which the ADOs corresponding to said presentedsecond activity descriptions comprise said common-idea-tying fields thatdo not match such fields corresponding to any other ADOs that arealready recorded in the activity descriptions holding area of the firstuser.
 7. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim 5 andfurther comprising: (c) integrating means for allowing the first user tointegrate into his own recorded collections of said recorded firstactivity descriptions, new, third respective, derived copies of secondactivity descriptions received from outside his collections in a manner;such that: (C.1) the common-idea-tying fields of respective secondactivity descriptions do not match the common-idea-tying fields of anyfirst activity descriptions before respective said integration; (c.2)said integrated third derived copies are owned by the first user; and(c.3) the common-idea-tying fields of respective said third derivedcopies indicate the same values as the common-idea-tying fields of therespective second activity descriptions.
 8. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 5 and further comprising: (c) secondsharing means for receiving a second set of second one or more activitydescription expressions where the second set may include alike ADOstructures associated with, and owned by second users of alike saidsystems; and further wherein: (a.5) the activity description recordingmeans includes means of automatically updating said activitydescriptions in the activity descriptions holding area of the firstuser, wherein if both the common-idea-tying field and the owner-userindicated by a said first activity description respectively match thecommon-idea-tying field and the owner-user indicated by a said receivedsecond activity description, then one or more portions of the receivedsecond activity description are used by said means of automaticallyupdating to update the values of the corresponding one or more portionsof the matching first activity description in the activity descriptionsholding area of the first user.
 9. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 8 and further wherein: (a.5a) the automaticupdating means includes sharing progress tracking means wherein the saidportions of updated activity descriptions owned by other than the saidfirst user, include one or more of a sharing or delegating agreementindicator, an activity completion status indicator, a priority indicatoror other activity description indicators; and (a.5b) said sharingprogress tracking means includes expressing means for presenting to thefirst user expressions of these indicators.
 10. The expression storingand transmitting system of claim 5 and further wherein: (b.1) the firstsharing means includes means of automatically transmitting derivedcopies of said one or more first activity descriptions that are owned bysaid first user, to machine areas of other users who are respectivelyindicated as originators of respective activity idea expressionscorresponding to the respectively said common-idea-tying fields of theone or more first user owned first activity descriptions.
 11. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 10 and furtherwherein: (b.1a) the said indicators of originators of the respectiveactivity idea expressions are recorded in the said one or more firstowned activity descriptions or are recorded in any other of the firstactivity descriptions that are members of the common-idea-tied group ofthe respective said one or more first owned activity descriptions. 12.The expression storing and transmitting system of claim 5 and furtherwherein: (b.1) the first sharing means includes means of automaticallytransmitting derived copies of said one or more first activitydescriptions that are owned by said first user, to machine areas ofother users who are respectively indicated as the owners of respectiveother one or more of the said first activity description; and (a.5) thecommon-idea-tying fields of the transmitted copies that correspond tothe respective said owned activity descriptions match thecommon-idea-tying fields corresponding to the said respective other oneor more activity descriptions.
 13. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 1 and further wherein: (b.1) the firstsharing means includes means of automatically transmitting derivedcopies of said one or more first activity descriptions that are owned bysaid first user, to machine areas of other users who are indicated assupervisory users relative to said first user and wherein: (b.1a) saidautomatic transmitting means is initiated directly or indirectly whensaid one or more first activity descriptions are created by said firstuser or if said one or more first activity descriptions are modified bysaid first user.
 14. The expression storing and transmitting system ofclaim 1 wherein each given ADO further comprises: (a.4)common-idea-tying reference data which alone, or overlappingly with oneor both of said ADO owner identifying field and said uniquenessproviding field, logically ties the given ADO to one or more other ADO'sto thereby define a corresponding, first group of ADOs that arelogically tied together under a unique identification for an expressedactivity idea.
 15. The expression storing and transmitting system ofclaim 14 wherein: (a.4a) said common-idea-tying reference data isdefined by at least one of the ADOs-tying set consisting of: (a.4a1) aCommon Idea Expression Reference (CIER) field; (a.4a2) a pointerpointing to a linked list of the other ADOs in said first group ofcommon-idea-tied ADOs; and (a.4a3) a reference to a linking table whichidentifies the other ADOs in said first group of common-idea-tied ADOs.16. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim 1 whereineach given ADO further comprises: (a.4) one or more ADO naming fieldswhich, alone or in combination, uniquely identify the said ADO fromamongst at least all other ADO's that are recorded in the activitydescriptions holding area of the first user.
 17. The expression storingand transmitting system of claim 1 and further wherein each given ADOcomprises at least one of: (a.4) an indication of privacy level; (a.5)an indication of other users to whom activity descriptions or derivedcopies of activity descriptions may be transmitted; and (a.6) anindication of other users to whom activity descriptions or derivedcopies of activity descriptions may not be transmitted.
 18. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 1 each given ADOfurther comprises: (a.4) an inbound sharing request type indicatingfield for identifying each given respective activity description ascorresponding to a respective inbound sharing request type, which may benull; and further wherein the system includes: (c) expressing means forpresenting to the user, expressions of the first one or more recordedactivity descriptions, wherein said expressing means includes means toautomatically and selectively filter from the presentation, firstactivity descriptions corresponding to a specified one or more inboundsharing request types.
 19. The expression storing and transmittingsystem of claim 1 each given ADO further comprises: (a.4) a sharingrequest type indicating field for identifying each given activitydescription as corresponding to a respective sharing request type,wherein the said indication of sharing request type is selected from agroup of sharing request types including: a “For Your Information” type(FYI) or equivalent type, wherein the “For Your Information” sharingtype does not correspond to a request for receiving users to activelyparticipate in regard to the activity description.
 20. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 1 and further wherein eachgiven ADO comprises: (a.4) an indication of a sharing request type amonga set of sharing request types, wherein a said set of said sharingrequest types includes one of at least: (a.4a) a first combinationindicating a no sharing request; and a sharing request; (a.4b) a secondcombination indicating a no sharing request; a request for involvement;and a request for awareness but no involvement (FYI); and (a.4c) a thirdcombination indicating a no sharing request; a request for sharedinvolvement; a request for delegated involvement; and a request forawareness but no involvement (for your information).
 21. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 1 and further wherein saidfirst sharing means includes: (b.1) means for transmitting translatedADO copies in one or more formats from the group consisting of: (a)message body ASCII text; (b) message body rich text; (c) message bodyHTML; (d) a message or email encoded binary attachment; or (e) dataencrypted or compressed into message body ASCII text.
 22. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 1 and further wherein: (a.4)the first sharina means includes means of automatically transmittingderived copies of said one or more first activity descriptions that areowned by said first user to machine areas of other users to whom thefirst user has indicated the activity descriptions should be shared to;and wherein: (a.5) said automatic transmitting means is initiateddirectly or indirectly when said one or more first activity descriptionsare created by said first user or if said one or more first activitydescriptions are modified by said first user.
 23. The expression storingand transmitting system of claim 1 wherein these-of said activitydescriptions that are owned by a given user are hierarchically organizedat least as parent nodes and corresponding child nodes of a primaryhierarchical tree, wherein each said activity description has as itsparent in the primary hierarchical tree, only one primary parent node,unless said activity description defines a root node, and each saidactivity description has as its children, zero or more primary childnodes.
 24. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim 23wherein each ADO further comprises one or more of: (a.4) a primaryparent identifying field for identifying the one primary parent ADO ofthe given ADO unless the given ADO defines a root node of itscorresponding, primary hierarchical tree; (a.5) one or more primarychildren identifying fields for identifying, alone or in combination,the one or more primary child ADO's, if any, of the given ADO.
 25. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 23 wherein saidactivity descriptions that are primary child nodes also have one or moresecondary parent nodes that are not the same as their primary parentnodes, and wherein any activity description can have zero, one or moresecondary child nodes for which such secondary child nodes can bedifferent from their corresponding primary child nodes.
 26. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 23 wherein: (b.1)the first sharing means includes means for automatically transmitting aderived copy of a to-be-shared one of said first activity descriptions,that is owned by said first user, to machine areas of one or morepredefined reporting-to users, if any.
 27. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 23 wherein: (b.1) the first sharing meansincludes means for automatically transmitting a derived copy of ato-be-shared one of said first activity descriptions, that is owned bysaid first user, to machine areas of reporting-to users, if any,wherein: (b.1a) a reporting-to user can be described as an owner of anyactivity description of said first activity descriptions and wherein theany activity description corresponds to a same common-idea-tied group ofactivity descriptions to which the given activity description is tied.(b.1b) said automatic transmission is transmitted to reporting-to usersof the to-be-shared activity description's primary parent activitydescriptions or further progenitor activity descriptions.
 28. Theexpression storing and transmitting system of claim 23 further whereinthose of said activity descriptions that are owned by a given user arehierarchically organized as child nodes to foyered nodes, wherein saidfoyered nodes are described as nodes of recorded activity descriptionsthat are not owned by the said first user yet are recorded in the saidactivity descriptions holding area of the first user.
 29. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 28 wherein: (b.1) the firstsharing means includes means of automatically transmitting a derivedcopy of a to-be-shared one of said first activity descriptions, that isowned by said first users, to machine areas of foyered parentreporting-to users if any, wherein: (b.1a) a foyered parent reporting-touser can be described as an originator of the activity idea expressioncorresponding to a foyered parent node of the to-be-shared activitydescription.
 30. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim28 wherein: (b.1) the first sharing means includes means ofautomatically transmitting a derived copy of a to-be-shared one of saidfirst activity descriptions, that is owned by said first users, tomachine areas of foyered parent reporting-to users if any, wherein:(b.1a) a foyered parent reporting-to user can be described as an ownerof a foyered parent activity description of the to-be-shared activitydescription.
 31. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim1 and further comprising: (c) journal data recording means for recordingin a journal items holding area of the first user, one or more journalitems wherein each said recorded journal item comprises a journal dataitem that is recorded in a format other than that of the activity dataobject format; (d) first expression linking means for generating firstlogical links between selectable ones of the recorded activity dataobjects and at least a corresponding one of the recorded journal dataitems.
 32. The expression storing and transmitting system of claim 31and further comprising: (e) transmitting means for generating andtransmitting derived copies of one or more of the recorded activity dataobjects including transmitting of derived copies of the at least onerespectively logically linked journal data item.
 33. The expressionstoring and transmitting system of claim 1 and further comprising: (c)expressing means for presenting to the said first user, second activitydescription expressions owned by users other than the first user,wherein underlying activity descriptions are recorded in the activitydescriptions holding area of the first user.
 34. The expression storingand transmitting system of claim 33 wherein: (c.1) said expressing meansincludes means for presenting to the first user even when the saidexpression storing and transmitting system is decoupled from anytelecommunications networks.
 35. The expression storing and transmittingsystem of claim 33 wherein: (c.1) said expressing means includesintegrated presenting means for presenting an integrated presentation ofthe expressions of said first activity descriptions owned by the firstuser and the expressions of the second activity descriptions owned byusers other than the first user.
 36. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 35 wherein: (c.1a) said integratedexpressing means includes foyered activity filtering means for limitingthe presented expressions of the second activity descriptions to onesthat correspond to a selected first activity description expressionwherein the presented second activity description expressions and theselected first activity description expression all correspond to onecommon-idea-tied group of ADOs.
 37. The expression storing andtransmitting system of claim 33 wherein: (c.1) said expressing meansincludes embedded attribute presentation means for presenting one ormore of the second activity descriptions, owned by the other users,wherein: (c.1a) presented expressions for specified ADO fields arereplaced by presented expressions for alike ADO fields obtained from therespectively corresponding first activity descriptions, owned by thesaid first user; and (c.1b) wherein the respective second and firstunderlying activity descriptions correspond according to respectivecommon-idea-tied groups of ADOs.